Mining colonies: shifting vernacular references, Zwartberg

Similar to neighbouring Waterschei we see varying building styles used in Zwartberg, but always with a strong vernacular influence. Again this starts with a dominance of the Walloon vernacular, passes through an English cottage phase and ends with Flemish brick vernacular.

The St Albertusschool houses a kindergarten, primary school, a catholic youth club, a special needs school and activity centre for people with disabilities. It has a cloister-like floor plan with two long wings extending from the decorative and imposing front around an inner courtyard. Originally each wing was assigned to either girls or boys with a kindergarten at the front and primary schools in either wing.

The now disused railway between Genk Winterslag and As separates the Cité Nord from the Cité Sud. The St Albertuskerk is a so-called mine cathedral, a large church built for the miners and commissioned by the Zwartberg colliery. Together with the neighbouring school it forms the heart of the mining colony.

 

Next to the school complex we find a row of old workers housing (dating from around 1915). Each building encompasses four dwellings under an expressive roof. The dark brick used makes for a rather understated building.

The post-war buildings are in the same style but are whitewashed as can be seen around the Delcourplaats (left). These buildings date from around 1919. North of the second building phase is a uniform building phase (around 1925) consisting of short terraces with lowered corners giving the impression of smaller scale housing. The buildings in this style consist mainly of 4 dwellings, sometimes 5 dwellings and seldom 2 or 6 dwellings.

These houses are uniformly placed behind the third building phase along a  grid parallel to the Torenlaan. They are built in a brick vernacular with some ornamental detailing. These terraces are larger and typically consist of 8 dwellings.

In contrast to the brick buildings a small number of cottage style inspired buildings were erected around 1922. They can be found around the Cockerillplaats and Felix Despastraat.

The eastern extension of the Cité Nord at Zwartberg consists of rows of identical brick buildings with little ornamentation except for a brick trim around the front doors. Each short terrace comprises of four dwellings and has a characteristic hipped roof.

The oldest buildings in the Cité Sud (1914) are built in a distinctly Walloon vernacular architecture. They are said to date from about the same time as the row of terraced houses east of the Torenlaan in the Cité Nord. These buildings however have a similar architectural expression as the post-war buildings in the Cité Sud (see below) built around 1919 with brick facades and ornamental brick detailing. This makes me doubt the early attribution of the Cité Nord buildings.

The oldest buildings in the Cité Sud are not dissimilar to the buildings around the IJzerstraat in the Cité Nord but more ornamental with horizontal banding and varying roof shapes. The buildings are placed on an orthogonal grid around small public spaces that were (and are) laid out as public gardens and play grounds.

Subsequent additions to the Cité Sud show a simplification of the architecture and a shift towards brick vernacular. The interwar period started with brick ornamentation on gable ends during the 1920s (left) and ended with simplified brick vernacular. In the 1930s extension on the west side of the Cité Sud we see brick architecture with hipped roofs in short terraces not dissimilar to the buildings of the same period in the Cité Nord.

The rows of terraces added to the Cité Sud in the early 1950s fit wonderfully well in terms of their architecture, but as the blocks don't follow the orthogonal placement of the Cité Sud they stand out very much.  

On the north side much of the original buildings have been replaced. Mostly these new buildings date from the 1980s (shown on the left) and differ greatly in style. The brick used in the two apartment buildings from the 1960s (on the right) fits in much better with the surrounding buildings.

The latest addition to the Cité Sud picks up the idea of the cottage style with mock beams and plaster infill on the elevation above a brick ground floor. These buildings fit well, but add a style that is commonly associated with these mining colonies, but only really present in the Cité Nord.