Submitted by scott on
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The Clemens' residence in Berlin, Germany from October 9, 1891 to New Years Eve, 1891

"It was a five-story, twenty-four-year-old tenement, so it was not exactly built "last week," as Twain claimed in his travel letter to Chicago, but it was still relatively new.  It probably looked much like the houses at the adject Pohlstrasse, built at the same time, which still exist today.  The courtyard of 7 Körnerstrasse encompassed a chicken coop and pigeon loft, both made of stone.  The family had a five-bedroom apartment on the second floor, with a bathroom, bathtub, and modern plumbing connected to the sewer system, but no electricity yet.  Every night at ten o'clock, the porter extinguished the gas lamps in the stairwell.  The apartment was also equiped with furniture "right down to the last pot in the kitchen and napkin in the cupboard," as the Berlin paper National-Zeitung would report somewhat later."

A Tramp in Berlin, pp 24-6

Schornhorst (pg 11) reports on Clara's impression of the residence: "a cheap apartment in a disagreeable quarter of the city," ... "noisy children who played in the muddy streets" ... "unkempt, hald-clad women" ... "continually leaning out the windows opposite us, their elbows propped on comfortable cushions."

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