ABSTRACT
During the course of the nineteenth century, a group of social actors established themselves between the public and private spaces of apartment buildings and residential complexes. This chapter attempts to explore the significant figures of the caretaker and the concierge for historical-cultural urban research. It examines their potential for understanding everyday urban structures and micro-politics as well as the boundaries between public, semi-public and domestic spaces. The chapter shows how the work of caretakers, doormen and concierges contributed to establish the context for the formation of the domestic sphere. Schlogl discusses village, urban and courtly living environments, focusing on the corresponding dynamics of presence and absence. The caretaker’s field of action, whose job description has evolved within patriarchal structures, can also be understood as an example of socialization among those who are present on a small scale.
