Essen main bath
The main pool was a central indoor pool in the Essen city center . It was considered the largest swimming facility in the city and was closed on December 30, 2015.
First bathing establishment
The first bathing establishment at this point, what was then known as Steeler Chaussee, was opened in 1882. This made this public bath in Essen the tenth in Germany. At the Brussels World's Fair in 1897 , 15 years after the opening, the city of Essen was awarded a gold medal for the plans for this bathing establishment. Some renovations and extensions took place up to 1924, the main basin had a fountain in the middle. During the Second World War , the bath was destroyed during the air raids on the Ruhr area .
The main bathroom
The post-war swimming pool was built from 1954 and opened in July 1958 in the style of post-war modernism . The Essen architect Peter Friedrich Schneider was in charge . Other participating architects were M. Kratzel, K. D. Lüthgen and K. A. Welp.
The LVR Office for Monument Preservation in the Rhineland decided on February 22, 2013 that the main pool should not be placed under monument protection. The decision was justified with numerous structural changes over the course of time, even if a report commissioned by the city in the 1990s had identified the bath as the most important example of bath construction in the post-war period . For example, the original shape and function of the entrance front is no longer there. However, the LVR office for the architectural further development of Essen's main pool, the Krefeld pool center from 1964 to 1967, initiated the licensing procedure under monument law as early as 1999 - despite the much more serious renovation measures that had already taken place at that time. The building, for which P. F. Schneider is also responsible, is now a legally valid monument.
Furnishing
The main pool had a 15 meter wide and 1.90 to 4.50 meter deep sports pool with six 25 meter lanes, at the end of which there is a diving tower with a 1, 3, 5 and 7.5 meter board connected. To the side of the sports pool, a grandstand offered around 650 visitors. A 12.5 meter wide multi-purpose pool with five 25 meter lanes was spatially elevated. Between the two there was also a non-swimmer pool with a depth of 1.2 meters.
These three basins were arranged in a slight arch, on the inside of which the glass facade, which was built in 2000 and architecturally redesigned, offered around 100 square meters more space. This ribbon of glass provided good light penetration over a length of 61 meters. In 2000 the steel girders of the facade were also renovated. In the swimming area there was a raised milk bar with a view of all pools.
The bathroom was equipped with an electro-acoustic system with cabins for radio transmissions and underwater windows for television transmissions. Until the 1980s, the water was heated with coal. Good water quality was achieved right up to the end by the fact that the water in the old filter system flowed through a bed of gravel, which, however, reduced the circulation capacity.
use
In addition to public swimming, the main pool was used intensively for school and club sports. It was also the venue for the German Short Course Championships several times and the final examination for the profession of specialist for swimming pools. Since 1991 the headquarters of the Essener Sportbund e. V.
Closure and demolition
A pool report by the Federal Association of Public Pools classified the main pool in Essen at the beginning of 2008 as ailing . Renovation costs of 13.8 million euros were estimated.
The main pool was finally closed on December 30, 2015. To say goodbye, it was open again from December 28th to 30th, admission cost one euro and a guided tour through the technical rooms was offered once a day. As a replacement for the main pool, the Sportbad am Thurmfeld was opened on January 4, 2016 .
The staff at the main pool moved to the new sports pool on Thurmfeld. The Essener Sportbund e. V. has its new headquarters on Planckstrasse. The day care center will remain in the building until a new location is found for it. Therefore, it is currently not possible to demolish the building complex and the city of Essen has to maintain it.
The city is planning to demolish the main pool building from April 2020. A so-called town hall is to be built in its place.
literature
- Oliver Meys: The main pool in Essen by Peter Friedrich Schneider, 1954 / 55-1958 . In: Yearbook of the Rheinische Denkmalpflege, 44 (2014). ISBN 978-3-88462-354-1 , pp. 258-265
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c DerWesten.de from December 29, 2015: Farewell is celebrated in Essen's main pool
- ^ Hugo Rieth: Essen in old views, Volume 2 . 7th edition. Zaltbommel, Netherlands 1991, ISBN 978-90-288-3097-4 .
- ↑ Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of February 23, 2013, local section: The main pool will not be a monument.
- ↑ Helmtrud Köhren-Jansen: Claim and Reality: About the preservation of historical monuments in post-war buildings in Krefeld. In: Yearbook of the Rhenish Preservation of Monuments , 40/41. 2009, pp. 49-81.
- ^ Article in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung WAZ v. January 30, 2008 ; offline
- ↑ DerWesten.de from December 3, 2015: The new sports pool at Thurmfeld
- ↑ Marcus Schymiczek: Former main pool will give way in 2020 to a “town hall” ; In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung of June 5, 2019
Coordinates: 51 ° 27 ′ 19.8 ″ N , 7 ° 1 ′ 3 ″ E