Old Friedrich-Heinrich settlement

Old Friedrich Heinrich housing estate at the corner of Lotharstrasse and Kattenstrasse (2020)

Friedrich Heinrich 1/2 shaft during the 2020 State Garden Show

Alt-Siedlung Friedrich Heinrich is a settlement in Kamp-Lintfort . It was built as a workers' settlement for the miners of the Friedrich Heinrich colliery from 1907. The built-up area is 76 hectares. The model was the English garden city . Today the settlement belongs to the Rhein-Lippe housing association .

history

In 1907, the sinking work began on shafts 1 and 2 of the Friedrich Heinrich colliery, and construction of the first residential buildings began at the same time. At the beginning of coal mining in 1912, a small settlement had already emerged, in which single and double houses with their own entrance, small garden and stable predominated. The oldest houses are between Ringstrasse, Albertstrasse and Ebertstrasse.

A second construction phase followed up to the beginning of the First World War , due to the increase in the production volume and thus also in the workforce. Construction was carried out in the north up to Moerser Strasse, in the south up to Barbarastrasse and in the east up to Auguststrasse. The houses were given various architectural details (roof shape, bay window, entrance, ...) so that none looked like the other.

After the First World War, ownership of the colliery changed back and forth through confiscation and arbitration, and high inflation brought economic uncertainty. At the same time, the mine was expanded to include the fields on the left bank of the Rhine from Rheinische Stahlwerke AG , and a weather shaft was sunk in 1928 . Four different architectural offices were entrusted with the expansion of the estate until 1930, so the appearance of the estate is correspondingly inconsistent.

During the National Socialist era , coal mining was promoted, and additional Sunday shifts were introduced at the end of the 1930s. In 1934 different communities merged to form the large community of Kamp-Lintfort. In the Second World War , many miners were drafted as soldiers, forced laborers and prisoners of war were used. The settlement was not expanded during this time. The garden and the possibility to keep small animals were important for the supply of the residents.

After 1945 the settlement near the colliery, which was only slightly destroyed, had 2,200 buildings and was inhabited by 6,000 people. The construction is one and a half story throughout, single or two-family houses, in groups of up to six residential units. The streets are spacious, winding and have lots of open spaces with greenery.

Over the next few years, maintenance and renovations only took place selectively and without an urban planning concept. At the beginning of the 1970s, individual areas were heavily changed through area renovation, i.e. demolition and new construction, several high-rise buildings were built on the edge of the settlement. Then a rethink began and a modernization area was designated. The Rhein-Lippe housing association began selling the property to the former tenants. In 1979, a four-stage redevelopment plan was formally adopted with the preservation of the settlement image. Rainwater sewers, sewers, power lines, the fresh water network, the house facades and the roadside planting with total costs of 36 million euros were largely financed by the federal government and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2005 the entire measure was completed. Today the old settlement shows itself as a colliery and garden town with a high quality of living.