Gildehofbad
The Gildehofbad was a fun pool in the Essen city center between 1987 and 1992 .
location
The Gildehofbad, which opened in 1987, was located in the south of the city center between the parallel streets of Schützenbahn and Bernestrasse . It was built as an integrated extension together with the still existing Gildehof-Center high-rise .
history
The Gildehofbad was designed as a fun pool with a total area of 6500 square meters and offered in tropical decoration on two floors, among other things, whirlpools , saunas and a pool area with a waterfall. The owner was a real estate fund of the Deutsche Genossenschafts-Anlagegesellschaft, while the city of Essen acted as a user through a 25-year lease. The originally intended name Holiday Beach was discarded during construction.
In November 1987, the then district mayor and chairman of the sports committee Helmut Karnath (1919–1990) opened the swimming pool. On the opening day it became clear that the calculations had been too optimistic: only 849 guests came, although the city administration had expected a considerably larger number. The planning was based on 1700 visitors a day; In the period that followed, the daily average was 500, which made the profitability calculations questionable.
In operation it became clear that numerous factors prevented the Gildehofbad from being really successful. The design of the bath was perceived as unattractive, the view of the multi-lane main roads was contrary to the intended entertainment effects, construction defects occurred increasingly frequently in the pelvis proved sealed as inadequate and ran water through the ceiling into the underlying floor seep, the exterior water slide was defective, lack of drainage in the soil favored standing puddles of water, which led to mold growth . About half a year after the pool opened, there were two deaths of children who died as a result of their pool accidents, whereupon more pool attendants had to be employed for the complex pool area, so that the pool's profitability continued to grow due to the additional costs involved deteriorated. The structural deficiencies caused the city to cut the rental payments, as the rental agreement meant that it was supposed to take over an operational facility; there were legal disputes with the owner.
Another unexpected problem was the idea developed during the planning that the majority of visitors would come by train via the immediately adjacent main station . In fact, contrary to expectations, most of the visitors arrived with their cars , which could only be parked in the Gildehof-Center's underground car park, which was subject to a charge . These additional costs in addition to the already not low entry prices - 18 DM for an adult, 10 DM per child - further reduced the attraction of the pool.
Despite the high entrance fees, the operation of the Gildehofbad was not cost-covering right from the start due to the low number of visitors; In 1992 the annual losses reached tens of millions. A cessation of operations seemed inevitable, but the long-term lease did not allow the city to withdraw completely. Therefore, the Gildehofbad was closed on December 23, 1992, but remained in city care.
The closed swimming pool also continued to generate costs for the city of Essen: Because the pool also served as a fire fighting water reservoir for the sprinkler system at the Gildehof Center, it could not simply be drained. But since it remained filled with water, the swimming pool technology had to be kept in operation and the pool had to be kept intact and an employee had to constantly monitor the system. Together with the current rent payments, the closed Gildehofbad cost the city 2.4 million Deutschmarks annually.
Reuse
Already during the operation, when the closure of the loss-making swimming pool became apparent, the city administration tried to find an alternative use of the building complex. In 1997 a concept was successfully implemented. The swimming pool was made superfluous as a water reservoir through renovations and the building was redesigned as an extension of the city library, which is also located in the Gildehof Center.
Web links
literature
- Hermann Burghard, Ulrich Borsdorf: Essen - history of a city . Pomp, 2002
- Wolfgang Althof: Incoming tourism . Oldenbourg Verlag, 2001
- Die Zeit , March 5, 1993: a real failure
- Der Spiegel , August 16, 1993: murder in sport
Individual evidence
- ↑ Radio Essen: Nachrichten 1992 ( Memento of the original from December 26, 2013 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. ; Retrieved December 26, 2013
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 11.5 ″ N , 7 ° 0 ′ 59 ″ E