Adopting German types: the mining colonies of South Limburg

Increasing industrialisation in the Netherland really took off after 1850 on the back of neighbouring Wallonia and Ruhr Area. The Kerkrade Collieries of Dominiale Mijn and Neuprick - both exploited under auspices of the Rolduc Monastary- couldn't meet the increased demand for coal, so the adjoining area was prospected and new concessions were granted. The Oranje-Nassau mining company exploited two such concessions after the coal field of Oranje-Nassau -owned by Henri Sarolea- and coal field Carl  -owned by the German brothers Honigmann were brought under a single entity with four collieries named ON1-ON4. The combined enterprise was the largest private mining company in the Netherlands. Other private concessions were Laura & Vereniging and Willem-Sophia. All the concessions hereafter would be exploited under auspices of the state by the Dutch State Mines.  

Sarolea was granted his concession in 1893, but it would take until 1900 before the first coal was brought to the surface at Oranje-Nassau 1. The first colony was built in 1899 as Kolonie Morgenster (Morning Star Colony) on farmland near the colliery and the railway. This first colony was followed by a colony at Grasbroek and one at Leenhof. Most colonies were built after 1908 when the German family Wendel took a large stake in the company and introduced German city planning models. After 1918 the focus shifts again and housing is not provided directly by the mining company, but by specially founded building societies (most notably "Ons Limburg" founded by dr. Poels in 1913) and housing coops. The second wave of miners housing thus takes the shape of social housing inspired by garden city models.

The Colonies Husken (H - 1906) and Grasbroek (GB - 1904) were built directly north of the ON1 Colliery. Husken -which originally also featured a row of semidetached housing for middle management- comprises of two rows of Mulhouse Quadrangles.  Between 1915-18 this colony was expanded with the Musschemig Colony (M) comprising of white semid etached houses arranged according to artistic principles around a small public garden (G). This colony -instigated by the Wendel family- shows the direction factory housing was taking after 1908. Musschemig was expanded in 1920 by building two rows of identical terraces (T) of 4 along the edges.

Near ON2 -within the mining concession Carl- a colony of Mulhouse Quadrangles was built on the land previously belonging to the manor farm Leenhof (LH) between 1905-07. Colony Leenhof 1 (L1) comprises of 12 such buildings on either side of a central street, much like examples from the Ruhr Area. Leenhof 2 (L2) was built as a grouping of 6 more Mulhouse Quadrangles. In 1910 and 1911-12 respectively, the colony was expanded with a further two sections for workers, Leenhof 3 and 4 (L3 & L4), again with Mulhouse Quadrangles. Each colony also had one semidetached building housing two overseers. Leenhof 4 also has some blocks along the main road set aside for middle management (mm) dating from 1915. These are situated across from the church (c) and school (s). Between 1913-18 a separate colony for middle management was built hogher up the hill, on the other side of the railway. This Colony Schaesberg (CS) has a striking circular layout and was designed on Sitte-esque artistic principles. It is, however, not a garden village!

Beersdal Colony takes its name from a large manor farm near the Caumerbeek (a brook) and was built halfway between ON1 and ON3 along the thoroughfare linking the town of Heerlen with the city of Sittard via Hoensbroek. This would be the largest colony of the Orange Nassau Moines. It comprises mostly of Mulhouse Quadrangles mixed with rows of semidetached houses for middle management in a regular layout. The street plan is a widened grid with a large green space in the middle. The service railway (black line) once cut through this colony, hence the change in orientation of the Mulhouse Quadrangles on the left.

Colony Rennemig was built on the edge of the site of Oranje-Nassau III (ON3). Here, not far from the hamlet of the same name a colony was built that consists of several parallel streets with semidetached workers housing. It is an example of the basic street colony. Between 1913-18 these streets running of the main road were constructed. The six double houses along this main road were constructed first, the dead-end streets came second. These streets stop abruptly at the edge of the valley of a brook (the Rennebach a tributary of the Caumerbeek).The railway (in black) that once connected this colliery with ON1 via Beersdal explains the difference in pattern on the right. This colony is a good example of urban planning by engineers.

The other mines also had workers housing constructed. These range from simple rows of cottages along a street (Laura and Sophia) and cottages along purpose-built streets (Wieën Colony - State Mine Hendrik) to groups of Mulhouse Quadrangles (Butting Colony for State Mine Emma and Terwinselen 1 for State Mine Wilhelmina), or a mix of semidetached and terraced cottages (Terwinselen 2). The Terwinselen Colony eventually grew into a garden village after it was expanded in several building campaigns (1918-19, 1920s and 1930s).

The Colony Hopel was built for the Laura Colliery (LC) in Eygelshoven (E). The first colony (C1) of this private mining company was little more than a row of identical cottages along a pre-existing road on the edge of both the mining site and the village. This second colony (C2) was named after the hamlet of Hopel (H). It was situated between the colliery and the spoil heap (sh) located along the railway on the other side of a brook (Strijthagerbeek) that rises near the Winselerhof. This brook joins the Anstel river south of the village of Eygelhoven. Further south the water mill (w) of Boerenanstel once stood.

As is visible from the sketch of the colony below, it took inspiration from the garden city model with vernacular-inspired architecture. The setting is, however, that of a colony with a regular street plan and the blocks situated parallel to the streets as the bottom sketch clearly shows. In red the building that's no longer standing.

The Terwinselen Colony takes its name from the Winselerhof Farm (WF) that still stands near the source of the Strijthagerbeek (a brook). The State Mine Wilhelmina (SMW), opened 1906, was situated directly west of this old farmstead at the end of a spur line of the Heerlen-Kerkrade railway. A large spoil heap (sh) was located near the pits and would eventually take up most of the site. Directly next to the mine two rows of Mulhouse Quadrangles (Q) were built in 1906. These were followed by semidetached cottages (T1) and a school (S1) between 1911-12. This was followed by an expansion northwards along the railway with a mix of semidetached cottages, up-down apartments and terraces between 1913-19 (T2). A Casino (C) was built near the oldest section. After that the colony was expanded on the eastside directly south of the colliery by cottages built along curved streets and around a small green (g). Most of these buildings in this garden village (GV) date from the 1920s. The church (Ch) was built in 1922 beyond a newly created village square (v). A centre was created with shops (S) and a second school (S2). The area east of the church was developed for housing in the 1930s.