Siedlung Teutoburgia, Herne: the ideal of a socially mixed workman’s village

The Union for Miners in Herne, like other socialist institutions in for instance Amsterdam, strongly advocated social reform and the provision of good and affordable housing. It was the unions that often initiated a break from standard colony building towards a more suburban (or village-like) model, often based on -an interpretation of- the Garden City model. The Siedlung Teutoburgia still stands as testament to the these efforts in improving the lives of workers.

The colliery site was abandoned in the 1920s and quickly became overgrown as trees sprang up everywhere. It is now a sculpture park. Originally the site was swampy (Bruch is German for land with surface water), but to keep the mines dry large pumping houses were built and the result was that the land above ground dried out and al the streams and brooks disappeared. As is evident from the rhododendrons in flower, I visited the area in spring…

The garden village was built near the colliery Teutoburgia. The name references the Teutoburg Forest, where it was -mistakenly- claimed a large battle between the German tribes and the Romans had taken place. Of this Zeche Teutoburgia little remains, except for this pit tower (right) and a machine hall (left). The architecture of this building is typical for late 19^th century design.

The Schadeburgstrasse with its large trees separates the colliery site -once completely surrounded by a brick wall- and the miners colony. The present street is an extension of an older road that gave access to the Schadeburg castle which was destroyed by Swedish troops around 1640 and was never rebuilt. The houses closest to the mine were larger and aimed at higher personnel.

The Schreberstrasse curves gently and was named for the Leipzig doctor Moritz Schreber who leant his name to the Schrebergartenbewegung (a social reform movement aimed at education people on healthy living and nature by providing small garden plots). Ernst Hauschild, a head teacher who had started the movement, named the gardens in 1865 in honour of Schreber. The movement originated in school gardens where pupils and parents would work together, thus promoting good parenting. The angled blocks on the right flank a side street.

Another angled block (left) on the corner of the side street (Bogenweg) with buildings from the second building phase. These are slightly less detailed than the earlier buildings. On the right an example of an apartment block with two ground floor and two first floor apartments.

The wide grass verges are notable, and have luckily survived in Teutoburgia. In most other places they have been sacrificed for parking spaces. The housing is typically varied on only a limited number of basic floor plans. The housing for miners is typically lower (with a low roof) than those for overseers which have two storey facades on part of the building. The housing for higher personnel is always two storeys. Thus the architecture expresses the working hierarchy.

The Baarestrasse runs through the centre of the garden village. The tree-lined street with front garden in grass has larger dwellings along it. Some were built for engineers others for technicians and administrators. This street once ended at the main gate of the Zeche Teutoburgia.

Variation on a few basic designs is quite evident if one looks for it. Here two houses side by side on identical floor plans but with varying detailing and materials used. On the left a house with a protruding bay and floor with a half-timbered facade. The low brick plinth is in brown brick. On the right a building on a low plinth in red brick with a timber-clad protruding section.

The Laubenstrasse curves gently back to the central axis of the Baarestrasse. The street is lined with blossoming trees. The houses here are all semidetached with on 4 basic floor plans but again with varying architectural expression.

The type with the protruding bay over two floors, here in red on a red  brick plinth, is angled at the corner of the Schlägelstrasse and Teutoburgiastrasse. On the right a long terrace with variable building line and roofline, creating the impression of a collection of separately built houses instead of a terrace.

On the southern section of the Bogenweg, the street that marks the edge of most of the first building phase, is as the name suggests a curved street. The housing in a vernacular style references large farm building. On the left a terrace of three masquerading as a farm house and in the middle another example of an apartment block.

The second building phase has a different feel. In this phase a street culminating in a cul-de-sac was built west of the earlier housing. Here a view down the street Teutoburgiahof with flowering trees lining the road and pavements. The houses all look similar, with combined entrances per two dwellings. Variation is introduced by varying the building line, including protruding sections and varying the roof shape. 

The actual Teutoburgiahof at the end of the street is loosely based on the model of the beguinage with housing on all sides of a central green space. Sadly cars now dominate this space. The whole is rather similar to social housing developed in the Netherlands.