Vieille-Montagne headquarters
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The Vieille Montagne management building is an administrative building in the village of Kelmis in the province of Liège , which was built in 1910 with elements of Art Nouveau on behalf of the Société Anonyme des Mines et Fonderies de Zinc de la Vieille-Montagne (VM) . Since 2014, the two years is later listed Asked house owned by the municipality of Kelmis and currently houses the Vieille Montagne Museum .
history
After mining operations and zinc production in Kelmis had ceased at the beginning of the 20th century and the Vieille Montagne stock corporation, which had been based in 1837, had reorganized its company structure, it had a new management building built in 1910, which has largely been preserved in its original state and is a striking one Certificate of zinc mining in the Kelmis community is valid. It was inserted between two smaller older houses that had served as a station building for the industrial line 39 A since 1871 and as a residential building for the station master and were later not listed. This railway, which was shut down in 1952, once passed in front of the building, so that today's street-side front is actually the back of the building and the main entrance is in the area of today's rear parking lot.
After the Vieille Montagne finally closed its agency in Kelmis in 1951, the buildings were sold and the Cornel Ohn family (1923-2013) their new owners. The family used the management building as a residential and commercial building and set up a petrol station in the old south-western extension.
After the death of Cornel Ohn, the municipality of Kelmis acquired the management building and the north-eastern extension in 2014 in order to use them to hold the exhibits from the Göhltalmuseum, which had become too small, and to convert them into a museum. Only the southwestern extension with the gas station remained with the Ohn heirs. The architectural office of Ravi Eicher, who was responsible for the work on the main building under monument protection requirements, was commissioned with the restoration and renovation work that has now become necessary, with the order for the interior fittings and the design of the museum Ricarda Quest. The former station building to the northeast was not to be placed under monument protection and could therefore be completely gutted and converted into a reception building, tourist office and smaller rooms for the temporary exhibitions of the “Association Kelmis 1871”.
Finally, after all construction work had been completed, the head office building was entered in the list of historical monuments of the German-speaking Community on March 17, 2016, and the newly established Vieille Montagne Museum was opened on September 14, 2018 by the Minister of Culture Isabelle Weykmans .
description
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The management building is a two-storey building with eight, partly wide axes, which was built from red brick with plastered decorative surfaces above and below the windows, which are provided with cement plaster on the current front in the basement . The house and the axes are divided into a broad central axis with first one narrow and then two broad axes on each side, to which a further broad axis with its own roof structure was added on its southwest side, which in turn connects to today's gas station building.
In the actual front facade on the parking lot side, the inscriptions "Direction", "V19" and "M10" for the use of the building and the year of construction are applied in three small medallions decorated with garlands , with "V" and "M" standing for "Vieille Montagne" . The broad central axis served as the main entrance to the management and is extended with a slightly curved triangular gable, which is provided with a three-part arched window. Large rectangular windows provide plenty of light for the stairwell behind. The narrow axes on both floors are also provided with rectangular windows, while the broad axes are designed with large four-way arched windows, with the exception of the seventh axis, which has a further entrance for the service personnel in the basement. The windows in the central axis and the two narrow lateral axes, as well as the employee door, are partially framed with bluestone frames.
Four medallions with the inscriptions “V”, “A19”, “D10” and “M” are embedded in the facade facing the street. The gable structure in the central axis is provided with three small rectangular lattice windows and an ox-eye above . In the basement of the central axis there is a wide entrance area to the stairwell, which on the upper floor is filled by a large three-way arched window. Here, too, the two narrow axes of the building have rectangular windows, whereas the broad axes in the basement are equipped with large arched windows and on the upper floor with large rectangular windows, which in turn are framed with bluestone frames. All windows on the two long sides are mostly in the upper third, partly also completely, structured like a rung and mostly with the original, slightly wavy and handcrafted colored glazing from the time of origin, in green and yellow .
The entire management building is covered with a windowless mansard roof, which optically runs over the seven main axes and has an independent structure on the eighth axis, which is extended to the southwest. In line with the company's history, it is made entirely of pre-patinated zinc , as is the weather wall on the side above the petrol station building, which in turn has a typical diagonal grid. The roof truss located inside has been preserved in its original state made of oak.
Inside the building, old building elements have largely been taken over, with arches, covings and pillars being retained in their basic forms without subsequent stucco or other changes . Particularly impressive here is the wide staircase, flooded with light from both long sides, with the wall tiles iridescent in all rainbow colors, the slender terrazzo steps and the iron railing with its simple wooden handrail made in strict Art Nouveau style.
The specially made wall tiles can also be found on the walls on the ground floor, as well as the terrazzo covering in the corridors, decorated with elaborate stone inlays, which was poured on site. A large part of the old wooden doors could be reused, on which patterns of three to four vertical or horizontal fluting can be discovered, as well as on the windows, ceilings and door handles .
The transition from the management building to the former station building, which has been converted into a reception room, is fluid inside and the style differences are harmoniously coordinated.
Web links
- Description on ostbelgienkulturerbe.be
- Rainer Güntermann: Museum Vieille Montagne Kelmis / La Calamine , portrait on the pages of aquis casa from August 30, 2018
Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 41.3 " N , 6 ° 0 ′ 32.2" E