Siedlung Brandenbusch, housing for the Villa Hügel staff

On the northern edge of the part of the Stadtwald known as Kruppwald a small settlement was built from 1885 onwards. This is the largest of the nineteenth century workers colonies built by the Krupp Company still in existence. This romantic collection of cottages was commissioned by Friedrich A. Krupp to house the most important members of staff working in the nearby family residence.

The design of this so-called Cottage-Siedlung was drawn by Samuel Max, an architect working for the Bauverwaltung Hügel (construction management). The name Cottage shows an English influence from the Arts and Crafts movement. The designs show semidetached houses set in large gardens on curved streets that follow the slope. Many have sections in Fachwerk (timber-framed) much like the gate houses of the Villa Hügel and the garden pavilions in Hügel Park.

The size of the dwelling and the rooms within reflected staff hierarchy. Most houses comprise of one to two floors with a low roof and often an underground cellar. The appearance from the outside was strictly regulated and no lean-tos, garden sheds or stables were allowed. Also the inhabitants, of this model village at the beginning of the long drive to Villa Hügel from Essen, were obliged to follow strict rules regarding the neatness and attractiveness of their gardens. After 1902 the buildings in the second building phase are designed along the lines of Landhausarchitektur (vernacular architecture) and less symmetrical in floor plan and facades. This second building phase ended before 1914. This staff colony and the nearby Villa Hügel got fresh water from a pumping house near the Ruhr. The nearby wood was available to the inhabitants to relax and enjoy their spare time.

The bombs dropped on Essen during WW2 also devastated parts of the Siedlung Brandenbusch, shown here in red. The northern -earliest- section near the church (c) and community hall (h) was all but wiped out for two buildings and replaced with apartment blocks. Most of the Landhaus-section still stands with the exception of the southern portion along the Waldrautstrasse. On the edge of the Hügel Park stands the gatehouse (g) in a similar romantic Landhaus-style. The post war additions are shown in a lighter shade of grey. The plan makes clear that placement and street layout of this Cottage-Siedung don't follow Unwinesque principles.

In many publications the Siedlung Brandenbush (and for that matter any similar Cottage-Siedlung) is presented as an example of the Garden City Movement. This can off course not be the case as Ebenezer Howard's book To-morrow, a peaceful path to real reform was first published in 1898. Siedlung Brandenbush predates this by almost 15 years! In fact the various examples of housing provisions for workers in Germany, combined with the proposals of social utopists and American examples of land communes are seminal influences for what was to become the Garden City Movement. This may also explain why these ideas were taken up so quickly in Germany.  For a wider distribution of the ideas of the Garden City Movement in  Germany and Austria the 1904 book by Hermann Muthesius Das Englische Haus was of great importance. Incidentally the second phase of Brandenbusch (1902) also predates this book. Siedlung Brandenbusch with its romantic houses is more akin to the ferme ornée (ornamental farm) that was part of rococo garden design and quickly became integrated into the English landscape garden as an ornamental hamlet. As such the Siedlung am Brandenbusch is an exponent of romanticism.