with the treads of marble, as is also the base and strings, and the floors of tile, with the entrance door and trim to each apartment of metal, we may say that the last word has been said on the fireproof question, as far as is known to the best modern practice.

In speaking of the stairs, we will add that it may also be built of reinforced concrete and is not a difficult undertaking. In this instance both this and the iron stairs were considered and it was concluded that inasmuch as the strings, newels and balusters, was to make it of this material in its entirety.

Each apartment is supplied with service stairs which are open to the air and are also of iron. The floors of the balconies through which they run, are of cement. The heating is by the vacuum system, supplied by the power plant of the owners, The Lawrence Park Realty Company. The buildings are supplied

with electric lights throughout from the same source, and also have the intercommunicating telephone system for the vestibules at main entrances to all apartments.

Considerable difficulty was encountered in successfully meeting the conditions of the site which was a very peculiar one, owing to the two roads running at obtuse angles and the great slope of the ground, causing great differences in the grade. In the main, this was met by placing two parts of the larger building and the smaller structure on different levels following the grades of the street as much as possible, giving an effect which mars so many buildings. Another feature was the projection of each gable one beyond the other, following the angle of the road, the effect of which adds to the general interest and picturesqueness of the buildings.

The exterior is treated in an adaptation

J

HE housing reforms accomplished in Germany, though less known to our American readers readers than the English work of the same nature, are nevertheless of very great interest. Most of the great German industrial centres have made notable progress in this respect during recent years, and their problems have been treated in a great variety of ways. Both in the cities themselves and in their environs districts have been set apart for systematic development, and this has usually been accomplished in an artistic and economical manner.

Dresden, the capital of the kingdom of Saxony, and the fifth largest city of the

Empire, has been by no means backward in this respect. Important public works have been, and are still being, carried out in the city and its environs, with the aim of rendering it more beautiful and livable. Dresden is an important manufacturing place, being the centre of the German camera industry, and having also other important manufactures, among which cigarettes and chocolate are perhaps the most prominent. The famous Dresden china is, however, not made at Dresden, but at Meissen, about sixteen miles to the northwest. Nor is Dresden exclusively industrial, being the seat of the Saxon court, and an important art

centre.

Because of its agreeable situation and its industrial importance, Dresden has gradually surrounded itself with a considerable number of residential suburbs, many of which offer valuable models for

emulation. Of these suburbs, Hellerau is perhaps the most attractive, and certainly one of the most interesting, both for the general disposition and for the architecture of the individual structures. Lying to the north of Dresden, on an undulating tract of ground that rises from the valley of the Elbe, Hellerau is connected with the city by an electric tramway, which makes the trip of about four miles in some twenty-five minutes. The cars are modern in equipment and almost luxurious in their fittings, and the traction company goes so far as to furnish free newspapers for the delectation. of the travelling public. There seems, therefore, no reason why it should not attract a high class of business and professional men, for whom it furnishes excellent homes at very favorable terms.

The foundation of Hellerau seems to have been due to the initiative of the Deutsche Werkstätten, a co-operative

corporation who manufacture furnitureand household fittings of a very modern type. Their designs are made by some of the best German architects, and particularly by Prof. Richard Riemerschmid, of Munich, who planned the garden suburb and many of of its buildings. The furniture factory of the company is located at Hellerau, and a considerable part of the town is built up in small houses, suitable for the artisans employed there, while other sections are devoted to a more expensive type of building. The factory and the artisans' houses are from the design of Prof. Riemerschmid, the larger cottages are by different architects, and vary considerable in their type of design, though stuccoed walls and red tile roofs are the dominant note.

The factory of the Deutsche Werkstätten has been designed with the express idea of not having too decided a factory look, and the same principle has