"Smallpox house"

No reserves: façade only half renovated

The façade of the GWG apartment building in Derfflingerstrasse is covered in stains

(Bild: MaRu)

The former barracks in Derfflingerstrasse is getting on in years. Because there are no reserves, the GWG has already taken out a loan to repair the building, which is now a rental apartment building - but the painting of the inner courtyard had to be abandoned. 

Once used as barracks for the k.k. Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment Nr....2 in 1896, the time-honored building in Derfflingerstraße now houses GWG apartments. One of the tenants there has now contacted the "Krone" editorial team to express his incomprehension about the refurbishment of the building. "We had the roof and the façade repaired, but even before the latter was uniformly painted down again in the inner courtyard, the scaffolding was suddenly gone." And indeed: on closer inspection, the building doesn't look quite "healthy", one could almost speak of a "smallpox house" like some residents.

"The original order was different"
What went wrong? According to GWG Managing Director Nikolaus Stadler, "nothing", as he explains in an interview with the "Krone": "The original contract for this house was to repair the roof, as there was water ingress. Other defects were then discovered. For example, parts of the façade were falling off - the cavities behind them were repaired, a new ceiling was installed on the top floor and doors were also replaced. Because it's a house with history, it was important to me that at least the façade on the street side got a new coat of paint."

Not visually top notch
Normally, this type of work is covered by reserves, but there were none here. "We have already taken out a loan for the work," says Stadler. According to him, the building is now in order in terms of safety, but not visually top-notch. "You have to weigh things up. If we were to pass on the costs, the rent for a 60m² apartment would be around 120 euros higher."