Little wood and a lot of plastic for a 109 mark rent
In the Hellersdorfer Straße 179–bottom floor right–time has stood still: behind the apartment door, awaiting the visitor, is a three room apartment in the style of the 1980’s: particleboard wall cupboards with Colorett colour television, velour corner sitting unit in the living room, bedding and grass wallpaper in the bedroom, typewriter and record player in the office or children’s room. The “Hotelführer DDR“, an instruction manual for the Majomat (Magdeburger yoghurt machine) and the DDR typical house book lie on the tables. In the kitchen with built-in furniture and FORON stove, one finds all kinds of typical DDR products such as Rotkäppchen champagne, Dederon aprons and a soda siphon plus cartridges.
It took around 18 hours for the assemblage and fit-out of an apartment done in the prefabricated-construction method. To that effect, the décor was simple and functional: lots of cement–little wood, lots of plastic–little chrome. In addition, there was a bathroom, running water, district heating and a good infrastructure within the vicinity. And all of that for a 109 mark rent! The apartments of the “pre-fabs” were above all popular among young families.
When the buildings were renovated in 2004, the City and Land Wohnbauten Gesellschaft mbH kept one of the apartments unchanged and turned it into a museum apartment. Tenants donated the furnishings and accessories.
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