Ostwall (Krefeld)
| East wall | |
|---|---|
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| Park on the east wall | |
| Basic data | |
| place | Krefeld |
| District | Cracau |
| Created | in the 19th century |
| use | |
| User groups | Pedestrian traffic , bicycle traffic , car traffic , public transport |
| Technical specifications | |
| Street length | 1200 meters |
The Ostwall is a north-south running boulevard in downtown Krefeld . It ends at the main train station and, together with three other walls (north, south and west wall), roughly delimits the old town. In the 19th century it was laid out as an upscale residential avenue by the architect Adolph von Vagedes . After the destruction during the Second World War, it became an important shopping street and thoroughfare in the city, where all public transport lines converge. Its central strip, on which green areas, small parks and art installations can be found, as well as its more than 150-year-old tree population are characteristic. Today, interest groups, companies, private individuals and the city administration are trying to restore the Ostwall to its former glory.
The east wall as a landmark of Krefeld
In August 1951, the Rheinische Post stated: “If you meet someone outside anywhere in the world - on the train, in the bathroom or on the journey through mountains and forests - who has once been to our hometown, he may have forgotten some of it our beautiful city - he will definitely remember one thing: the Ostwall! ”. The Ostwall is not only an important shopping street in Krefeld, but also an important social meeting point for the residents and a landmark of the city. The numerous events on the median are not only attended by residents, but also attract guests from outside. Schoolchildren meet every year under the clock (UdU) on the corner of Rheinstrasse to celebrate the start of the holidays. The Ostwall is Krefeld's favorite street, the city's green calling card, its Champs-Élysées and Little Paris, for which they are known.
Residents of the city center, the local businesses and the city administration are therefore endeavoring to beautify their landmarks and make them more attractive, especially in the hope of attracting visitors from the surrounding area and new residents in order to counteract the vacancy rate and the relatively high unemployment rate in Krefeld. While the residents are more interested in the expansion of the green spaces for the quality of life, the business is accused of being promotional activities on the Ostwall.
Location and surroundings
The east wall is located on the eastern edge of the Krefeld city center, which it encloses together with the north, south and west wall. This gives the city its characteristic rectangular shape, which is unique in Germany. In the north it borders on the north wall and in the south it leads to the main train station , where the house numbers start to be counted. The Ostwall is the main street in the city center and the direct route to the main train station and is therefore very busy. The median of the east wall is also characteristic. A tram line runs along the northern part between Nordwall and Neue Linner Strasse, while the southern part to the main station has green spaces with small parks, flower beds, art installations and fountains. As a shopping street, the image of the Ostwall is strongly characterized by shops, department stores and shopping arcades from the post-war period, which also extend into the side streets. But there are also old patrician houses from the 19th century that survived the Second World War.
The lanes next to the median dominate the east wall, but the city has various plans to make the street safer and more attractive to pedestrians. Many planned road crossings and pedestrian bridges could not be realized, however, generous road markings for cyclists could.
Transport links and parking
Almost all Krefeld local transport lines (city rail, tram and bus) lead over the Ostwall to the main station. Krefeld is part of the Rhein-Ruhr transport association . The final stop of the tram lines is on Rheinstrasse. Considerations to move the final stops to the main train station failed due to protests from residents. To prevent cars from being parked on the already narrow street, there are numerous parking garages and a well-developed parking guidance system in the side streets. Parking directly on the street is partially possible. A speed limit of 30 km / h applies to traffic calming.
history
Creation and design
The east wall was built together with the three other walls (north, south and west wall) in the course of a city expansion between 1817 and 1850. The administration of Krefeld decided to build new residential quarters outside its walls, as the city grew quickly and new settlements until then haphazardly and took place without order. In December 1815, the local council officially decided to expand and commissioned Wilhelm Goldammer with the topographical mapping of the current cityscape. Goldammer drew a "map of the city of Crefeld" from this data, which the local council sent on March 19, 1817 with a blueprint to the district authority in Düsseldorf. The council also asked the government building officer Adolph von Vagedes to draw up an expansion plan on the basis of these ideas.
Adolph von Vagedes (1777–1842) was one of the most famous classical architects and urban planners in the region and worked for Karl Friedrich Schinkel , among others . He also wrote and composed. When the Rhenish administration was reorganized, he was appointed government building officer in 1818. He also participated in the renovation of Düsseldorf , Solingen , Mülheim an der Ruhr and Elberfeld . Krefeld, however, was his largest urban development project.
Von Vagedes saw an opportunity to turn his ideas into reality in the elongated cityscape of Krefeld. As an architect of classicism , he worked with typically Greek elements and metric harmony was important to him. The already in an earlier city expansion in 1692 under Wilhelm III. Königstrasse laid out by Orange offered the perfect conditions for a splendid boulevard. On the basis of Goldammer's map, von Vagedes designed a "Plan of Crefeld", based on the Dutch principle. This is based on a straight road layout to make the cityscape clear. Mannheim and New York, for example, owe their current cityscape to the Dutch.
On this basis, Adolph von Vagedes planned to enclose Krefeld with a rectangular castrum consisting of four walls, the course of which was based on the straight line of the city wall. The straightness and coherence of the castrum is still unique in Germany. The shape is reminiscent of the imperial city of Beijing, which is why the author Otto Brües in his novel "Der Silberkelch", which deals with the expansion of the city by von Vagedes, compares Krefeld to China's capital because of its silk production and the structural similarity. However, there is no evidence that von Vagedes oriented himself towards Beijing.
On November 5, 1817, Adolph von Vagedes sent his draft to the Krefeld district administrator Georg Cappe. His plan tripled the size of the city and seemed unimaginable in the year of emergency and famine of 1817 after the Napoleonic Wars. Nevertheless, under the great influence of District Administrator Cappe, the city administration decided to expand Krefeld. The east wall was to be laid out as a splendid boulevard and decorated with trees, flower beds and monuments so that it was inviting to stroll and look at it. A concrete construction plan was drawn up on May 11, 1819 and the future east wall was first drawn up in 1826.
The implementation of the new city plan presented some difficulties. For example, the park of the von der Leyen city palace and Heydweiller's garden contrasted with a symmetrical shape. In addition, some existing establishments could not be demolished and today's north wall touched factories and windmills.
The four walls were planted between 1838 and 1840 by master horticulturalist Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe and his younger son Wilhelm August. Later his older son Joseph Clemens Weyhe also took part in the design of the ramparts. The eastern wall was initially planted with four rows of Dutch linden trees, but soon plane trees, red and white chestnuts, various types of maple and American oaks were added. Even today these old trees are an important part of the east wall. The areas between the trees were decorated with flower beds by the city gardener Haack in the 1850s, on which plants such as canna, giant hemp, giant corn or black perilla grew. These beds bordered fountains and monuments (e.g. the De Greiff column, the Moltkedenkmal , the Carl Wilhelm bust or the Ludwig Friedrich Seyffardt monument ), which stood as conspicuous focal points in the cityscape at street intersections. Almost all the monuments were destroyed during the Second World War or demolished during road construction works in the 1950s.
- Listed building on the east wall in Krefeld
Ostwall 23
Ostwall 27
East wall 47
East wall 50
East wall 58
East wall 59
East wall 70-74
East wall 119
East wall 121
Ostwall 131 + 133
East wall 136
East wall 215
Structural completion in the 19th century
In 1890, CW Crous told of his youth in Krefeld: “The west side of the east wall was expanded from Rheinstrasse to Gartenstrasse ... Further north there were still a few houses, factory buildings and dye works. In the northern part of the east wall, between today's Nordwall and Nordstrasse, the Heydweillersche Garten spread out next to the "Freiheit", a park of von der Leyen, of whose splendor the old trees behind the Seyffardt monument still remind us today. "
The expansion of the east wall was slow. There were countless drafts, reports, cabinet orders, negotiations, planning applications and complaints. Since the ramparts were outside the city, the townspeople considered the area too dangerous to build there. The existing Alte Linner Straße was the first and for a long time the only drivable street on the Ostwall. The eastern side of the boulevard was hardly built on. The famous "Wirtshaus zum Trabener Weinberg" on the corner of Alte Linner Strasse was one of the few buildings. In the 1830s, there were hardly any construction sites on the numerous fields (e.g. the site of the later main train station).
Only with the construction of the main train station in 1849 did the Ostwall become a popular residential area. The dawn of the machine age made Krefeld a major city in its region, which required a rail link to the surrounding cities. The city administration decided to extend the Ostwall towards the train station and prevailed against numerous critics. Opponents of the project wanted to build the station further to the west because they feared that the east wall would turn into a main traffic axis. This disadvantages the area and the road is not developed for it, because it was not even paved. However, the opening of the station made the Ostwall an attractive area. The wall was quickly built on and turned into a quiet and shady avenue, in which mainly wealthy families lived, of which some patrician houses still remember today. The address book from 1868 lists silk and velvet manufacturers, silk merchants, clerks, doctors, pharmacists, chemists, civil servants, a few craftsmen and pensioners as residents of the Ostwall. The then mayor Heinrich Ondereyck also owned a house on the avenue. There were also warehouses for various factories and inns, but hardly any shops.
The Krefeld discount company Peters & Co was the first bank to settle here. There was a hotel that was converted in 1933 by the dye works owner Fritz Kress into the modern variety theater "Der Seidenfaden". The telegraph station of the North German Confederation was set up on today's Ostwall 144, to which telegraph poles led from the train station along the Ostwall. In 1871 it was moved to the post office in Friedrichstrasse (today market hall) and in 1894 to the place where the main post office is today. At the beginning of the 1870s, a tunnel was created from the east wall to the station building, as the passengers had to cross the tracks beforehand. In 1907 the old station building, which had become too small, was replaced by a larger one.
World War II and post-war period
Krefeld did not survive the Second World War unscathed. Some parts of the city and also the east wall were destroyed by bomb attacks. After the war there was a strong will to rebuild. The residents tried to remove the rubble and the city council planned the development of the now free spaces. In the patrician houses of the east wall or on their rubble plots, trade, commerce and liberal professions settled. Although the first shop had already opened in 1914, the popular promenade has only now been transformed from a residential avenue into a popular business and traffic street that is touched by all trams and buses. In the 1950s, the Ostwall was expanded as a main thoroughfare and the tracks were relocated, with some monuments and fountains being removed. Most of the trees, however, remained untouched by the construction work.
In the post-war period, Krefeld was open to motorists on the Ostwall and decided on some controversial measures for its redesign. On July 6, 1949, the council decided to widen the east wall between Rheinstrasse and Neue Linner Strasse by ten meters as part of the so-called "Ostwallbahnhof" project. Such structural changes helped transform the once quiet avenue into Krefeld's main thoroughfare. In the course of time, the people of Krefeld realized that a beautification of the east wall would improve the attractiveness of their cityscape, but initially little changed. Until the 1970s, the east wall was rebuilt for traffic and trade, so that only a few green spaces remained between the street noise. Simple lawns replace the flower beds and the tram completely displaced the green on the median on the northern east wall. The Rheinstraße stop was created as a transfer station for all lines. With the increase in car traffic, the traffic situation deteriorated drastically, so that the Ostwall as the access to the main train station became the bottleneck of the Krefeld traffic management.
1960s to 2000: return of the boulevard
After the reconstruction in the post-war period, the quiet, idyllic boulevard designed by Adolph von Vagedes had disappeared. Although the city administration, citizens' groups and committed residents came up with numerous ideas to turn the Ostwall back into an attractive promenade, little happened for several decades. Actions such as the idea of Ostwall residents in May 1956 to set up colorful chairs next to the classic green benches or to create flower beds in their yellow color in March 1987 remained an exception for a long time. The Ostwall was the city's biggest problem area, as unemployment rose in the district, more and more residents were moving away, over 1,000 cars passed the street every hour and there were many traffic accidents.
Despite the criticism that the redesign of the east wall only served advertising purposes, the city administration and the residents tried to create and implement plans and actions for the beautification of the east wall. The prerequisite for changes was calming traffic. For example, zebra crossings, traffic lights and a speed limit of 30 km / h were enforced. In the 1970s, three pedestrian underpasses were built on St.-Anton-Straße, Rheinstraße and Hansastraße to separate pedestrians and vehicles. These have now been closed and partially filled in. In July 1985, the lane between Rheinstrasse and Neue Linner Strasse was reduced by one meter and the sidewalk was enlarged.
Committed fellow citizens brought design ideas from time to time. In January 1970, for example, an architecture student suggested setting up terrace cafés on planned steel high streets as a meeting place for young people, but this was not implemented. Since the end of the 1980s, the FDP submitted several unsuccessful applications to put the Ostwall under monument protection. As early as 1969, the artist Wilhelm G. Cassel presented a plan to reserve 50 spaces where international artists could exhibit their works. This is how you bring art to people and at the same time beautify the Ostwall. The east wall becomes an "artificial wall". The culture committee was positive, but the project was not implemented. The city administration only took up the "Kunstwall" project again in 1987 by setting up installations by the light artist Adolf Luther on the east wall. Luther planned several works, but the city only approved two because it did not want to fill the east wall too full. Luther did not see the unveiling of his installation “Integration”, an avenue consisting of sixteen lenses on steles, in June 1991; he died nine months earlier. The Krefeld artwork was his last project.
Gradually, the east wall changed in small steps. Efforts were concentrated on the median, which was to be turned back into a park. Nicer sidewalks were built, flower pots were put up, new trees were planted and the old street lamps were replaced with new ones in a nostalgic style. As early as 1977, the city planned to set up fountains, flower beds, street cafes, seating groups and the like on the median. The residents joined together to form the “community of interests for the beautification of the east wall”, collected donations and organized campaigns and events, for example the Krefeld Saturdays or exhibitions by the Krefeld car dealers. They successfully asserted themselves against the complaint that the many guests would damage the lawn on the median. In early 1990, however, all events on the Ostwall were banned because an aerial survey revealed that the trees were diseased. The ban was mainly directed against the car shows.
Frequently, however, the necessary financial resources for comprehensive measures were not available. Despite plans and measures, the Westdeutsche Zeitung reported in 1987 about the Ostwall as a "festering wound" in Krefeld. There is no city center, the administration is unorganized and discussions only take place behind closed doors. The traffic also damaged the trees and made the east wall unattractive for residents and businesses, so that the economy deteriorated and unemployment rose. Residents and neighbors took part in the beautification of the east wall, but their actions remained rather small and sporadic, yet they changed the area step by step.
A renaissance of the east wall - views
A comprehensive plan to beautify the east wall as a trademark of Krefeld did not emerge until the early 1990s. In December 1990, a master plan for the inner city (RPI) was presented to the public and in January 1991 the main parts of the urban planning committee were approved. The restoration of the four walls became the most important aspect of the inner city development project. The politicians orientated themselves on the historical street profile from the 19th century. The former character of the east wall as a splendid boulevard was to be restored and safety for pedestrians and cyclists increased. For example, it was planned to enlarge the sidewalks and later even set up a pedestrian zone between St.-Anton-Straße and Neue Linner Straße. There should be lane markings for cyclists. The central zone south of St.-Anton-Straße was equipped with new paths, street cafes, flower beds, fountains and art objects based on the classic model. The project was supported by the sale of postcards and posters with motifs of the east wall before the World War, to show how beautiful the avenue used to be and to collect donations.
This time the plan resulted in a large and organized remodeling of the east wall. Work began on the northern part up to Neue Linner Strasse and continued in the southern part from 1996. The prerequisite for success was again reducing traffic. A survey by the Naturschutzbund Deutschland in September 1991 showed that a majority of 53 percent of households preferred closing the east wall to traffic and a green pedestrian zone. The residents, on the other hand, rejected any closure and even criticized the city administration when these parts of the street were closed for their renovation work. The traffic problem persisted and Krefeld is still fighting against vacant apartments and shops as well as against declining population numbers, poor economic conditions and high unemployment.
Today the construction work to beautify the east wall is intensified. The project is supported by the federal-state funding program Urban Redevelopment West, which is countering the negative effects of demographic and economic change in West German municipalities. For this project, the city administration relies on the design statute formulated in 1996. The walls are to be made more attractive for visitors through the expansion of parks or playgrounds. There is also hope of renting out the many vacant apartments and attracting business people. Compared to other parts of the city, Krefeld's inner city has a large number of apartments with high vacancy rates. The city therefore promotes the ramparts as quiet, green areas.
The city of Krefeld has received around 860,000 euros for the expansion of its inner city. The redevelopment area in question includes the entire city center and the ramparts. In fact, Krefeld recorded a gain in residents in 2011. The city administration is working with retailers and restaurants on Ostwall to implement it. The "Our Ostwall" initiative of the various companies based on the Ostwall is also involved in the beautification.
In August 2011, the city administration commissioned a five-person team from the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences to take photos of all the streets in the city center in order to find good design options. The Krefeld streets were to be embellished and, above all, rebuilt in a uniform style. The plan for this comes from Professor Nicolas Beucker, who has already redesigned Düsseldorf's Königsallee using a similar process. The concept costs 50,000 euros and is 80 percent financed from the "Stadtumbau West" program. The politicians rejected the construction of a new shopping center, but from 2013 the construction of two new passages by Krefelder Bau GmbH and Wohnstätte AG on the east wall, which also contain apartments, should begin.
Rheinstrasse stop
Old stop
The old stop had two island platforms and two side platforms . Inside the middle platforms you found the standard gauge pair of rails of the Düsseldorf city railways , which merged in the area of the stop to form a sweeping track to end at a small buffer stop . Outside the central platforms were the tracks of the meter-gauge tram , each flanked from the outside by a side platform on which, in addition to ticket machines and similar facilities, shelters were housed. At the southern end of the station, the central tracks of the light rail were swiveled to the side of the green strip, while the tram at the northern end was swiveled into the middle of the green strip.
Redesign
Since the tram and light rail stops no longer met modern requirements, a redesign was planned. Entry into the low-floor Krefeld trams should be barrier-free. In addition, the weather protection for passengers should be improved. From an operational point of view, a renewal of the power supply and the sweeping system of the Düsseldorf city railways was necessary. In addition to the stop, the surroundings were also included in the redesign. The problem is that most of the advantages of the new stop will not apply to the high-floor cars of the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn.
The concept of the new stop system is an island platform that is located between the two directional tracks and is approached by both trams and light rail vehicles and thus has a platform edge on both sides. For weather protection, a glass roof is installed in a corrugated construction, which spans the entire length of the platform area. The sweeping system of the trams will also be renewed as a result of the renovation and double-tracked between the tracks of the further tram lines. A green strip is left between the tracks for planting trees in order to tie the rows of trees along the east wall. In a calculation from 2011, the costs were given as approx. 20.5 million euros, of which 9.21 million euros were taken over as a grant from the VRR .
With the redesign, the dismantling of underpasses began in part as early as 2012. The construction of the actual stop was divided into four phases: The first phase was the completion of the dismantling of all underpasses and could take place within the first quarter of 2014. In the second and third phases, most of the work was carried out until the first quarter of 2015, so that the remaining work and the connection to the tracks to the main train station could be completed by April 2, 2015. After the first test drive could already be carried out on April 10, the new route was initially temporarily opened to tram traffic. However, since the dirt tracks of the city railways were not yet completed, the lines could not yet drive on the Ostwall.
The completion of the new stop through the glass roof was also divided into four phases. Measurements and the manufacture of foundations began on June 29, 2015. The construction of the support structure follows. First, the glass panes are inserted before, in the final phase, the overhead line is removed from its temporary masts and attached to the glass roof. On November 21, 2015, the line should officially go into operation. However, the construction of the construction was delayed, which means that the tram lines could not return to the stop until December 23rd. The Düsseldorf light rail lines, on the other hand, were only extended to the terminus on January 7, 2016.
Worth seeing
- Silk weaver memorial “Master Ponzelar” on the south wall at the corner of the east wall: Many monuments on the east wall were destroyed in the Second World War or demolished during the reconstruction. A memorial that still exists is the archetype of the hardworking, thrifty Krefeld house weaver with shouldered delivery tree, the “Jraaduutkapp” and the “Bobingesack an de Hank”. With it, the Krefeld people commemorate their worldwide success as a velvet and silk city. (See also: Leineweberdenkmal Bielefeld)
- Old town houses: From the time the east wall was built in the 19th century, some classicist patrician houses have been preserved, which can be found mainly near the train station.
- Hansahaus: The Hansahaus directly at the main train station was built in 1915 by Hansahaus GmbH as a silk exchange, but then converted into a hotel in 1980. Since 2006 there has been a retirement home and the headquarters of the Caritas Association for the Krefeld region. The symmetrically constructed former trading house is particularly noticeable because of its noble natural stone facade.
- Trees: The Krefeld people are proud of their stock of more than 150 year old trees on the east wall, which were probably created by Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe between 1838 and 1840 when the walls were planted. A plan from 1969 to continue the tram from the main train station to the city center was not implemented because old trees would have had to be felled. In 1971, 57 trees were felled and indignant citizens rammed memorial stakes into the vacancies. In early 1990 events on the Ostwall were banned because the crowds and traffic endangered the trees. In April 1992 the city administration even considered cutting down all the sick trees in order to build a new avenue afterwards. However, this plan was not implemented.
- "UdU" (under the clock): A popular social meeting place, especially for young people, is the clock on the corner of Ostwall and Rheinstrasse. As early as the 19th century, students met under her and since the 1920s they have been celebrating the start of holidays there twice a year after the certificates have been awarded. In March 1985 a new clock was built in a nostalgic style. There was criticism of the city administration in 1983 for removing the round bench seats to keep punks away.
- Seidengalerie: In February 1985 the Seidengalerie with its high glass dome and numerous boutiques was built on two floors as a shopping center between Ostwall and Petersstrasse . It also includes doctors' offices and homes. In addition to other passages and department stores on Ostwall, its building caused a sensation due to its uniqueness and because it symbolizes Krefeld's reputation as the “silk city”. Her role models are in Paris ( Galeries Lafayette ) and Stuttgart ( Schwabengalerie ).
Events
- Krefeld Spring: Every year the city of Krefeld organizes a Sunday shopping on the Ostwall with activities for children and performances from music, sports and art. In addition to the residents of the city, more and more guests from outside the city take part.
- Krefeld Saturdays: Since the 1970s, the residents of the Ostwall have organized "Krefeld Saturday" at irregular intervals throughout the year with themed exhibitions, consultations, music shows and various activities.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Der Ostwall, Rheinische Post, August 22, 1951
- ^ Kordt, Walter: Adolph von Vagedes, Ratingen 1961, page 58
- ^ Kordt, Walter: Adolph von Vagedes, Ratingen 1961, page 61
- ↑ On the history of the 6th Krefeld city expansion and the city walls 1817–1850, page 168
- ↑ Klein-Paris, Rheinische Post, May 14, 1956
- ^ The east wall should turn yellow, Rheinische Post, March 18, 1987
- ^ Bringing Art to the Street, Westdeutsche Zeitung, February 19, 1970
- ^ Ostwall trees sick - but still to be saved, Rheinische Post, February 7, 1990
- ^ A festering wound, Westdeutsche Zeitung, June 20, 1987
- ↑ Krefeld's inner city gains residents, Rheinische Post February 25, 2012
- ^ Krefeld design concept for the city center, Rheinische Post, August 16, 2011
- ↑ a b Construction of the glass roof construction of the converted Rheinstrasse stop ( Memento of the original from July 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Linking the row of trees to the new sweeping system of the railways ( memento of the original from December 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Redesign of the Rheinstrasse stop ( Memento of the original from July 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Redesign of the Rheinstrasse stop ( Memento of the original from July 13, 2015 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.
- ↑ The UFO has landed Article from the city mirror from December 23, 2015
- ↑ Is the Ostwall overdue ?, Neue Rhein Zeitung, December 2, 1969
