Historic town hall (Mülheim an der Ruhr)
| historical town hall | |
|---|---|
 North side of the historic town hall from Rathausmarkt, 2013 |
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| Data | |
| place | Mülheim an der Ruhr Old Town I. |
| architect | Hans Großmann and Arthur Pfeifer |
| Builder | City of Mülheim an der Ruhr |
| Construction year | 1915, extension in 1966 |
| height | 60 m |
| Coordinates | 51 ° 25 '43.6 " N , 6 ° 52' 44.7" E |
The historic town hall in Mülheim an der Ruhr is an administrative building complex in the city center in the Altstadt I district . With a historical component from 1915, it houses the administrative board around the mayor , the city council , its committees and city advisory boards as well as large parts of the Mülheim city administration. This makes the town hall the political and administrative center of the Ruhr area city . In addition, it is one of their most important and, not least because of the 60 meter high town hall tower, most characteristic architectural monuments .
location
The building complex forming the historic town hall is located on Am Rathaus street or Rathausmarkt (north) and is also surrounded by Löhberg (east), Schollenstraße (south) and the Ruhr promenade (south-west). The building complex is largely structurally divided by Friedrich-Ebert-Straße. Thus, the town hall is located in the middle of Mülheim city center and in close proximity to the Ruhr and the city harbor.
history
After the last meeting of the Mülheim Council in the old town hall, built in 1841/42, on December 30, 1903, and the assumption of office of Mayor Paul Lembke in the spring of 1904, the political intention of building a new town hall for the city of Mülheim became more concrete. In 1908, Mülheim celebrated its 100th anniversary, the council made the decision to host an architectural competition for a new town hall. This was a response to the growing demands of the rapidly growing city - in 1904 alone Mülheim enlarged its urban area seven times by incorporating it into the city - which made the old, smaller town hall no longer seem appropriate.
The competition, which was advertised throughout the German Reich , attracted 176 participants. The designs, including eleven by Mülheimer Architekten, referred to the planned building area, consisting of two adjacent properties, separated by an " emergency route ". A panel of judges made up of four well-known German architects considered 18 designs from the submissions, twelve of which ultimately met the requirements. The judges shortlisted seven of them. In the end, the first-placed design did not become the basis for further work, but rather the third-placed design named “Two Places” by architects Arthur Pfeifer and Hans Großmann . This design was convincing "due to its urban-planning appropriate room dimensions and eaves heights, also due to a building rhythm that emphasized spaces and developed space-like expansion through facade recesses."
The lack of office space and insufficient retail space in the building arcades were criticized. A 13-person town hall commission was formed, which changed the architectural design so that the emergency route was widened, the town hall tower was raised to 60 meters and slimmed down, a new spire was considered and the decorative shape was made simpler.
Construction began in 1913, but problems arose early on. Floods made the laying of the foundations impossible at first and residents objected to the plan to bridge the emergency route, which further delayed progress. The mobilization that preceded the outbreak of the First World War brought the construction work to a standstill for six weeks. Nevertheless, the first city officials moved into the new building on Notweg in June 1915, around six months later than planned. At the end of 1915, the east wing with the council chamber was also completed, so that on February 10, 1916 the city council could meet there for the first time, which until then had been sitting provisionally in the former district building on Teinerstraße.
The new building at that time was considered to be very modern, including a district heating system that used the hot water from the nearby municipal swimming pool and a dedusting system. It comprised 10,500 m² with 154 service rooms, plus a further 3,000 m² for the entrance hall and corridors. The town hall cost the taxpayer 2,500,000 marks, excluding land costs.
The council chamber was illustrated with a life-size portrait of Otto von Bismarck and pictures of Prussian generals.
With a British bombing raid during the Second World War on the night of June 22nd to 23rd, 1943, the town hall was seriously damaged. Both the roof and the upper floors were in ruins. In the course of the reconstruction, according to the ideas of architect Hans Großmann, who was commissioned by the Reconstruction Planning Working Group at the Reich Ministry of Armaments and Ammunition under Albert Speer at the end of 1943 , major urban planning changes were to be made around the town hall: Town hall, savings bank, employment office, industrial and trade school and a market hall “on the right bank of the Ruhr. The plans never left the drafting stage.
The town hall, which had been in ruins until then, was the subject of renovation and reconstruction measures in 1953. In 1959, the city council again announced an architectural competition to close gaps in construction caused by the war by expanding the town hall building towards the banks of the Ruhr. Regardless of the outcome of the competition, the municipal building department was commissioned to carry out the construction. The chief building officer Thissen was responsible. The formerly separate tax office, a functional building from the 1930s , was integrated into the town hall.
The construction work began in 1961, was completed in 1966 and the new rooms were occupied. Two four-storey, cube-shaped buildings were built along the Ruhr, adjoining the tax office building. Also in the style of the 1960s , a seven-story office block was attached to the north, based on four columns artistically designed by Ernst Rasche , which symbolized the four elements and the four seasons .
In 1977 a collection of municipal office machines was set up in the tower of the town hall.
The northern flank of the town hall, which was destroyed in the Second World War, was replaced by an extension, which is characterized by its high glass plinth front and an almost completely glazed corner building. The extension was artistically designed by artists from Mülheim, for example Gustav Dahler , Otto Pankok , Hermann Lickfeld and Heinrich Siepmann .
On March 6, 2008, the city council decided to fundamentally renovate and modernize the town hall. This took place from March 2008 to the end of 2011, the parts of the city administration that switched to leases in 2009 and the council returned to the historic building at the beginning of 2012. In 2009, as part of the Ruhrbania urban development project, parts of the western flank were demolished to make room for new Ruhrbania buildings. Today there are houses with condominiums and restaurants.
Architecture and architectural decorations
The historic town hall is designed in the style of historicism . The facade is made of shell limestone and decorated with rich decorative shapes.
literature
- History Association Mülheim ad Ruhr (Hrsg.): Witnesses of the city's history - monuments and historical places in Mülheim an der Ruhr . Klartext Verlag , Essen 2008.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Monika von Alemann-Schwartz: The Mülheim town hall by the architects Hans Großmann and Arthur Pfeifer 1913-1916 . In: Geschichtsverein Mülheim ad Ruhr (Hrsg.): Witnesses of the city's history - monuments and historical places in Mülheim an der Ruhr . Klartext Verlag , Essen 2008. Quoted from Mülheim architectural monuments: The historic town hall. In: muelheim-ruhr.de. City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, December 2, 2015, accessed on October 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Historic town hall. In: muelheim-ruhr.de. Kulturbetrieb Mülheim an der Ruhr, September 15, 2015, accessed on October 1, 2016 .
- ↑ a b excerpt - fundamental renovation of the town hall. In: Ratsinformationssystem Mülheim an der Ruhr. City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, March 6, 2008, accessed on October 1, 2016 .
- ↑ TIME SIGN February 10, 1916: First meeting of the city council in the new town hall. In: muelheim-ruhr.de. Kulturbetrieb Mülheim an der Ruhr, accessed on October 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Town Hall - visiting card of our city. In: muelheim-ruhr.de. City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, September 30, 2016, accessed on October 1, 2016 .
- ↑ Monument list no . 17 (town hall). In: List of monuments. City of Mülheim an der Ruhr, accessed on October 3, 2016 .