FOC Ochtrup
The D OC Ochtrup is a designer outlet center in Ochtrup in North Rhine-Westphalia . 65 manufacturers sell branded articles here at reduced prices. The outlet center is located in the triangle between North Rhine-Westphalia, the Netherlands and Lower Saxony, at the intersection of the major traffic arteries BAB A31 (exit Ochtrup), A30 and B 54 and the rail connection Münster - Gronau - Enschede (NL). The center is operated by my diary GmbH.
After the McArthurGlen Group became majority shareholder, the center was renamed McArthurGlen Designer Outlet (DOC) in March 2016 .
Site history
Until the end of the 19th century, the Pröpstinghof, probably the oldest farm of the Easter farmers, whose history goes back to the old Saxon times, was located on the factory premises of the former textile company of the Brothers Laurenz and thus on the site of today's DOC Ochtrup. During this time, the courtyard complex must have been the seat of a Saxon nobleman due to the layout of the building, its size and the size of the manor .
During the Saxon Wars (772–804) the court went to the Franconian crown, became state property and, when the diocese of Münster was founded, it was given to the bishop, who gave it to the noble von Horstmar as a fief with other donated courts.
When the St. Mauritz Abbey was founded around 1070, the noble Kunigunde von Horstmar bequeathed the inheritance to the abbey. From that time on the farm was called Provestinchove or Pröpstinghof because from now on he had to pay his taxes to the provost of the Mauritz monastery.Its original name Uhtepe or Ochtorpe, which the farm had received in the Franconian era, now described a small settlement of buildings that had formed around the church on the grounds of the courtyard.
During the Middle Ages, the "Curtis Provestinchove" and its courtyards were under the provosts of St. Mauritz.
"De scultethe van den Provestinchove" enjoyed a great reputation due to its special position and its considerable property in old Ochtrup. The most important representative of the family was Gerhard Wilhelm Schulze Pröpsting, who in 1765 became mayor of Ochtrup and consul of the family. In the following years, however, the property got more and more into debt. At the end of the 19th century the court's debt was 60,000 marks. In 1883 the farm passed to the Laurenz family for 70,000 marks.
An old well in the parking lot North 2 of the FOC Ochtrup is the last remnant of what was once the largest farm in the municipality.
Company history of Gebr. Laurenz
At the beginning of the 19th century, around 40 percent of the total area of Ochtrup consisted of heather and moorland. The mostly small, agricultural properties did not yield enough income, so that other sources of income had to be found. Therefore, flax was often grown on the farms, as it thrived on poor soil and provided the families with additional income. House spinning and weaving found their beginnings in this way. 200 weaver families were producing in Ochtrup at the beginning of the 19th century. The families could not take care of the sale of the woven goods themselves, so a paving system was developed: the pavers supplied the weaver families with yarn and bought the finished linen from them. By 1850 there were already 500 weavers in Ochtrup, all of whom worked for foreign textile publishers.
In the years 1840 to 1850, nettle weaving was introduced into Germany from the Netherlands. Until then, flax was grown in the Münsterland, spun into linen fibers and woven. While this old branch of business was becoming less and less important, cotton processing developed and flourished unexpectedly. The great demand for cotton moved the brothers Anton and Bernhard Laurenz together with Anton's son Hermann to found the A. & B. Laurenz company in Ochtrup in 1854, which later went down in history as the Laurenz brothers.
In the first few years Anton and Bernhard Laurenz ran their business on their parents' property. Here the yarn was distributed, the finished pieces from the hand weavers were accepted and shipped. At that time, 50 hand weavers were able to produce the fabric in piecework from home. Hermann Laurenz's task in the early years was to expand the sales market for the manufactured goods beyond the Münsterland. That success was not long in coming is shown by the fact that in 1856 500 weavers from Ochtrup and the surrounding towns were already working for the company.
In the sixties and still in the seventies, Laurenz switched from working from home to a regulated day-to-day work in the factory. In the course of this, the brothers mechanized the company in 1864, set up 216 looms and purchased a steam engine with 30 hp. There were 450 looms after the Franco-Prussian War in the 1870s. During this time, expanding the company by adding textile finishing was the top priority for the brothers. Dyeing works and a roughing mill were built and specialists from other textile regions were recruited for the new production facilities. A clarification and sedimentation basin also dates from this period, which was uncovered during the expansion and renovation work for phase 2 of the center in the area of today's parking lot east and is now used as a rainwater retention basin. The find that was uncovered in the area of the north entrance in the summer of 2014 is no less spectacular: a cistern of the sewage treatment plant of the first dye works from 1875.
In 1881 the company expanded to Gronau-Epe with a colored weaving mill of 500 looms. A dye works, a bleaching works, a printing works, a color kitchen and a drying house were added until the 1990s. In 1890 the Laurenz brothers decided to set up a large mechanical spinning mill at Ochtrup station in order to be independent of the yarn quality and prices of the suppliers. Until the death of Hermann Laurenz in 1885, the Laurenz brothers had built up a large company with a wide range of production.
Up until the First World War , extensive expansions took place within the company, particularly at the Laurenzstrasse site. Thanks to the social commitment of Hermann Laurenz, far-reaching projects such as the construction of workers 'and civil servants' apartments, the establishment of an orphanage and a kindergarten, the construction of a hospital and the introduction of statutory health insurance and a company pension fund were implemented. The house and the garden of the Laurenzsche Villa are open to the public today. The adult education center is housed in the former rooms of the stately villa, and the garden has been transformed into a city park.
In 1904 the company employed 2,100 workers in three factories. The product range comprised 72 articles with 566 different patterns. It was the time of the booming textile industry in the Münsterland, and the Laurenz brothers ran the largest business in the industry, exported overseas, and had offices in Berlin, Stettin and Königsberg.
The architecture of the DOC Ochtrup
The Beltman Building
The Beltman Building, the imposing, castle-like brick building on today's Laurenzstrasse in Ochtrup and the former administration building of the Laurenz brothers' textile company was also built during this high phase of the textile industry. The architect Gerrit Beltman from Enschede designed this building, which was built around 1893 with stylistic elements from the Wilhelminian era and entirely in the architectural language of the Wilhelmine era. Particularly characteristic are the gradations in the symmetrical façade with windows and the color of the stones. In addition to the administration, there were also storage rooms in the building itself. In addition, there was a convenience store for the factory workers. The Beltman Building is probably unique in its kind in Westphalia, and its sophisticated and unusual construction makes it clear what a major role the textile industry played in the north-west of Münsterland at the end of the 19th century.
When you first look at the Beltman building, you will be impressed by the tower in the Munsterland Baroque style. In 1909 it was incorporated into the administration building together with a bakery by the architect Hubert Holtmann from Münster.
The brick rotunda
The company flourished until the beginning of the First World War. Due to the wars, however, raw materials and labor became scarce and sales markets were lost. Fallen and missing workers were much more common between 1939 and 1945 than 25 years earlier. Since the company continued to operate - albeit to a limited extent - during the war years, production could quickly be resumed after the war.
In 1947 a major fire destroyed all storage rooms. The now-listed brick rotunda was built on the site of the plans by the architect Willy Diening from Nordhorn. In contrast to the Beltman building, the round brick building looks rather plain. Since this structure was to serve exclusively practical purposes, namely as a warehouse, the building was built in the Bauhaus style without any frills. Nevertheless, the two so different buildings complement each other perfectly.
In the façade of the rotunda, brick-red wall strips alternate with long, white-framed strips of glass. The two upper ribbon windows consist of 21 units, each with 3 × 3 square concrete windows placed one behind the other. This results in rectangles, each containing 27 small glass windows. This gives the whole building a very solid and compact appearance. The original loading ramp on the rotunda is still preserved today. Old remains of track give an idea of where goods were transported to and from in the past. Today the shops of the brands More & More, Ara, Bianca, Steiff and Pampolina / Kanz can be found in the round brick building.
In 1951 the rotunda was extended to the north. The old passage can still be seen here today. The architect Bach from Rheine was responsible for the extension of the building. This differs from the rest of the brick rotunda above all in the wooden windows and the roof openings that differ from the front part, but also in the different depths of 16 to 20 meters. The Cecil / Street One shop is now located here.
The Böhm entrance hall
In 1950, the famous Cologne architect Dominikus Böhm designed the entrance hall of the Laurenz brothers' textile company. It served as a connecting piece between the brick rotunda and the Beltman building. The hall is roofed over by a round dome with a ribbon of glass blocks. The incident light accentuates the rosette in the floor, also designed by Böhm, in Italian and German-French marble. Another highlight is the vision of the "Apocalyptic Riders", which was staged in 1954 by the artist Hubertus Brouwer, who lives in Ochtrup, with a 6 × 8.7 m wall mosaic made of over 275,000 traventine stones.
As the son of a Dutch sculptor, Hubertus Brouwer, who came to Ochtrup in Westphalia at the age of 24 in 1943 while traveling from Berlin to The Hague, remained closely connected to the city of Ochtrup throughout his life. Commissioned work and long-term financial support from the factory owner Heinz Laurenz enabled him to devote himself exclusively to art at a young age and to give up his teaching profession. The close contact with the Laurenz family also opened up contact to the architect Dominikus Böhm for Brouwer.
In the 50s and 60s Brouwer received numerous orders for the design of windows in churches and public buildings. The wall mosaic “The Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and a glass window from the earlier stairwell of the Beltman building, which can be seen today in the hall of the Laurenz café and restaurant, date from this period. The stained glass windows, which are made of different colored glass, represent abstract or abstracting motifs, also reflect the development in Brouwer's artistic language, namely the transition from the representational to the abstract.
From the loom to the DOC Ochtrup
In the wake of the economic miracle, the textile industry boomed one last time. At its peak in the 1950s, the Laurenz brothers' company employed more than 4,000 people, and thus every third Ochtruper. From the 1960s, however, the entire textile industry began to decline. The Munsterland textile companies were simply no longer able to compete against the cheap products from the Far East.
In 1966 it was taken over by Gerrit van Delden & Co. from Gronau - 1,200 workers lost their jobs. But van Delden also got into financial difficulties and finally filed for bankruptcy 14 years later, in December 1980. Germany's largest textile company came to an end.
On October 10, 1981, the Greek textile company Piraiki-Patraiki AG from Athens took over the majority of the shares in the van Delden company. On October 20, 1981, the first production started under new direction. 700 workers could continue to be employed.
Eleven years later, the Hof textile group took over 100 percent of van Delden AG from the Greek state-owned company. Piraiki-Patraiki AG had to withdraw from the German market due to new legal regulations in their home country. State-owned companies were prohibited from participating in private companies abroad. A short time later, Hof AG was taken over 100 percent by ERWO Holding AG, which acted as the parent company of Südwolle GmbH & Co. KG. The company completely separated from its weaving activities at the Ochtrup location at the end of the 90s and has since concentrated on its core competence, the refinement of fabrics. The spinning mill and the factory in Gronau-Epe were given up in the 1980s. At the end of 2013, the processing plant in Ochtrup was finally given up completely. The company closed the location on Laurenzstrasse on June 30, 2015.
The city of Ochtrup was offered the administration building, the round brick building and other real estate on Laurenzstrasse covering an area of 16 hectares. After lengthy political discussions, the city of Ochtrup, under the leadership of the then mayor Franz-Josef Melis, succeeded in buying the site from ERWO Holding in June 2001 in order to then begin the renovation work. The aim was to create something new on the former company premises. The ideas ranged from a partial settlement of the town hall, integrated with handicrafts and small businesses, to an outlet center and retail trade directly in the city of Ochtrup.
In addition to the FOC Ochtrup, an expert electronics store, a branch of Takko fashion, an Aldi store as well as a tax consultancy and other service offices (formerly "Wagenburg") as well as a landscaping with a pond are located on the site.
Center development
Phase 1: The Euregio Outlet Center - opening April 16, 2004
As part of an architecture competition, the architects Pfeiffer, Ellermann and Preckel from Dülmen, who were responsible for the design concept, developed a conceptual design for the Euregio Outlet Center Ochtrup (EOC) together with the architectural office Schmiegel & Denne from Ochtrup (construction work / site management). The owner of the EOC, Hütten Holding GmbH, had the center rebuilt on part of the company premises. The Böhm entrance hall and the southern part of the round brick building were completely renovated and the Laurenz Café & Restaurant integrated there. In addition, a covered part was created for the outlet center, which today is made up of the “Twente Plein” and the “IJsselstraat”. In April 2004 the EOC Ochtrup was opened. The Euregio Outlet Center Ochtrup (EOC Ochtrup) was one of the smallest outlet centers in Germany with its 5,500 square meters of gross rental area.
Phase 2: The Factory Outlet Center Ochtrup - opening August 30, 2012
After a two-year construction phase, the FOC Ochtrup was expanded in 2012 to a total of 20,330 square meters of gross rental area today. It offers space for around 65 shops and more than 100 brands as well as various catering offers. The architects Schmiegel und Denne from Ochtrup were responsible for the expansion. During the expansion work, care was taken to preserve the historical building fabric, such as the listed facades of the Beltman building and the northern part of the brick rotunda. The buildings were completely refurbished. For example, new flooring was poured in the rear part of the round brick building, a water feature was created, Twente Plein was lengthened, and several staircases were torn down to provide access to the north and south of the round brick building and reintegrated elsewhere. The children's paradise and other shops have since been located in the round brick building. A new building was connected directly to the tower to make it accessible. The building and center management as well as the information point of the center are located there today. The Factory Outlet Center Ochtrup presents itself with a spacious open-air promenade, the design of which is reminiscent of the typical gabled houses of the Münsterland.
Wish cistern in the DOC Ochtrup - a historical testimony
During the renovation and expansion work in the north entrance area, the DOC Ochtrup came across an interesting, historical find. A cistern of the sewage treatment plant of the first dye works of the Laurenz brothers' textile company in Ochtrup from 1875 was uncovered in the now new passage area. The cistern was first freed of contaminated sites, cleaned and staged in terms of architecture and lighting. On the one hand, it should serve as a historical testimony to a piece of Ochtrup's textile history, and on the other, it should also function as a so-called wish cistern.
The artist couple Renate and Leo Janischowsky from Steinfurt, who already made a name for themselves with their bronze animal sculptures and steles in the Factory Outlet Center, were commissioned with the artistic design of the project. It was important for the two artists to depict the various desired topics in a sculptural manner. Love, health and prosperity as ideal values are symbolized in the form of bronze souls with animal heads polished on gold. The dove stands for love, the lion's head is supposed to represent health and the pig symbolically describes prosperity. The forty by fifty centimeter sculptures have slots for money for donations. These each fall through a shaft that goes out from the respective steele, onto a turntable in the cistern that is embedded in the floor, which also takes up the desired topics again. It is important to find the right moment so that the donation also hits the desired field. The donation amount will be used for social projects that are sponsors for one of the three areas.
literature
- Anita Bender: Ochtrup - A foray through the city's history , publisher: Stadtsparkasse Ochtrup, 1999.
- Paul Casser: History of a Century - Hundred Years of the Laurenz Brothers , Ochtrup, 1954.
- Ronald Stenvert: Ontwerpen voor wonen en werken. 125 years bureau Beltman . Utrecht, 1996.
- Anton Wegner: Ochtrup a Heimatbuch , Verlag Regensberg Münster, 1975.
- Tageblatt for the Steinfurt district “Ochtrup celebrates anniversary”. Supplement to 500 years of Ochtrup - reassignment of city rights .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anita Bender: Ochtrup - A foray through the city's history . P. 10 ff.
- ^ Anton Wegener: Ochtrup a home book . P. 147 ff.
- ^ Paul Casser: History of a Century . One hundred years of the Laurenz brothers. Ochtrup, 1954. p. 10 ff.
- ^ Paul Casser: History of a Century . One hundred years of the Laurenz brothers. Ochtrup, 1954. p. 20 ff.
- ↑ Tageblatt for the Steinfurt district "Ochtrup celebrates anniversary", here: "In 1850 there were already 500 weavers in Ochtrup". Supplement to 50 years of Ochtrup - reassignment of city rights.
- ^ Paul Casser: History of a Century . One hundred years of the Laurenz brothers. Ochtrup, 1954. p. 38 ff.
- ^ Paul Casser: History of a Century . One hundred years of the Laurenz brothers. Ochtrup 1954. p. 53 ff.
- ↑ Barbara Gerstein: Hermann Laurenz and his family . Edited by Jürgen Teuteberg.
- ↑ Ronald Stenvert plants Ontwerpen voor wonen en. 125 jaar buerau Beltman , p. 30 ff.
- ↑ Tageblatt for the Steinfurt district "Ochtrup celebrates its anniversary", here: "In 1966 von Delden took over the Laurenz company". Supplement to 500 years of Ochtrup - reassignment of city rights.
- ↑ Monuments & Architecture - FOC Ochtrup ( Memento of the original from March 5, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
