Background information:
In buildings like these are often small shops of independent entrepreneurs on the ground floor. This type of shops are found in streets where one can find many pedestrians. Because of the small floor area of the building, large stores will never fit there. Floors above it were originally inhabited by the middle class and people with a fairly high level of welfare. There has been a lot of changes. Now there are many students or single households per floor. In the streets with the highest land prices happens that the entrance stairs to the upper floors is removed for more m2 storefronts. As a result, the upper floors will empty out, because they no longer have a separate entrance and in fact would yield less than a few meters extra storefront.
Architectural details:
The cellar under the shop serves as a storage room. The facades of the ground floor, also known as the plinth of the building are most changed parts over the years. So this corner building had a store entrance on both streets. Of these, one has been bricked up. The facade with the richly detailed balcony fences and stone windowsills had originally a chic appearance. The facades are somewhat in decline by a shortage of maintenance.
