During the 19th century the population of the Ruhr Area grew rapidly as a result of industrialisation. Towns and cities with a few
thousand inhabitant grew within 75 years to large conurbations of over 100.000
residents. The early growth in industries (factories and mines) was realised by
recruiting from the region. From 1860 onwards large-scale migration from
(present-day) Poland -Silesia, Pomerania, East Prussia and Posen- was needed to
supply the workforce needed for the growth of industries in the Ruhr Area. The German-speaking
migrants were quickly absorbed into their new homeland, the Polish-speaking
migrants, however, were treated as second-class citizens. This would eventually
result in strikes and the foundation in 1899 of a Workers' Union.
Skilled workers were often housed in so-called mining
colonies. These housing estates were built by the mining firms to provide
accommodation for the miners and their families. By 1870 3 million people were
living in the Ruhr Area, making it the largest industrial region of Europe.
Special cottages set aside for miners had already been built during medieval
times and in the following centuries. But these stayed small-scale in
accordance with the small-scale industrial activities. Some mines only had 6
miners for instance. Most of the influx of migrant workers were housed in
converted sheds and purpose-built housing that was often rented per room.
The first planned housing provision was created in
1844 when the Gutehoffnungshütte (an ore mine) located in Oberhausen built a
number of houses for married foremen and overseers in the Colony Eisenheim.
This colony exists to this day. The name translates as "home of iron"
and is very apt for housing worker of an iron and zinc mine. Each building was
two storeys high and comprised of two dwellings. The houses were arranged in
long rows along a street. After several extensions were completed this miners
colony housed some 1200 people in 51 buildings. That is an average of 10 per
dwelling! Often housing types were copied; e.g. the Siedlung Stemmersberg shows
exactly the same houses as Eisenheim.
The Siedlung Eisenheim developed from a small number
of double houses (9) an a short terrace of 4 dwellings built in 1844-45 into a
rather incidental collection of 42 dwellings in 20 buildings along pre-existing
roads in 1872. In 1903 we see a true colony with new streets connecting older
streets that were built on, on both sides. Although not a garden village as
such, this mining colony is a good example of a rural inspired suburban
purpose-built housing estate.[Image based on images by NordNordWest - Creative
Commons]
Apart from the low building type that was inspired by
rural dwellings built for farm workers, a second more urban type of two storeys
were often built before 1860. The need for more housing had become so acute
that newly opened mines could only be exploited by providing housing for
skilled workers with a family. For the single young men that also flocked to
the Ruhr Area special boarding houses were erected. These were often called "Hotel"
although they were more like hostels.
Another popular type of housing was the MulhouseQuadrangle. These houses were first shown at the 1855 Paris Exhibition as model
housing pioneered in the Alsace for the workers in a Potassium mine. The 4
dwellings combined in a single building were first built in 1858 in Bochum as
the Colony Stahlhausen (literally: houses of steel) for the Gussstahlfabrik
Mayer. Colonies with Mulhouse Quadrangles can be easily recognised on maps and
city plans as rows of housing between two -often narrow- streets. This type was
built in many mining colonies around the Ruhr Area. This was also very
necessary as after 1871 win over France the Prussian economy boomed and no less
than 700.000 people migrated to the region.
The miners' colonies could hardly cope with the amount
of people needing housing. So many families shared a dwelling or took in a
lodger or rented a bedroom to shift workers to sleep during the day. The shift
workers and single men in hostels relied on communal kitchens and laundries.
They could shower at their workplace. Many of the housing built between 1975
and 1899 reflected these arrangements by providing a central living kitchen
where people could eat and that was accessed via stairs or a corridor directly
from all the bedrooms, so the family room would not have to be entered by the
lodger or bed renter. After 1885 subletting of rooms and even outbuildings was
seen as a big health and social problem. So inspectors started to be employed
to visit the houses in the mining colonies. At the same time apartment blocks
with a communal entrance hall with an overseer were being pioneered as another
solution to housing the ever-growing influx of labourers.
Every mine had at least one, but often several
colonies. These were often situated near the collieries. Where they survive
they are very distinctive enclaves within the urban sprawl of the present Ruhr
Area. Near cokes plants, glass and steel plants the colonies were located
upwind. Some colonies provided sheds for small animals such as chickens, geese
or the occasional goat or pig. After 1900 this factory housing changed in
character, either going down the route of urban super blocks (Gartenhof) or
suburban, rural-inspired, low-density housing in garden villages (Gartenstadt).
Well-known examples of garden villages in the Ruhr Area are: Margarethenhöhe (Essen), Dahlhauser Heide (Bochum), Gartenstadt Hüttenau (Welper), Margarethensiedlung (Duisburg-Rheinhausen),
Gartenstadt Welheim (Bottrop), Siedlung Teutoburgia (Herne), Alt Siedlung (Kamp-Lintfort), Gartenstadt Hassel (Gelsenkirchen), Kolonie Maximilian (Hamm), Siedlung Zweckel I, II & II (Gladbeck) and Alte
Kolonie - Siedlung Lindenhorst
(Dortmund-Eving). These are all part of the Route of Industrial Culture.
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