Grafenbusch settlement

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Coordinates: 51 ° 29 ′ 31.7 ″  N , 6 ° 51 ′ 50 ″  E

Grafenbusch settlement: semi-detached house (2008)
Grafenbusch settlement: detached villa (2008)

The Grafenbusch settlement in Oberhausen was built between 1910 and 1923 according to plans by the architect Bruno Möhring for executives at Gutehoffnungshütte (GHH).

The establishment of this settlement is one of the rationalization measures of the GHH in the first decades of the 20th century under the direction of its chairman Paul Reusch , who led the group from 1909 to 1942. In this case, the aim of the measure was to locate the managerial staff and important engineers in the immediate vicinity of the main production sites so that they could be present quickly on site if necessary. In September 1909 the supervisory board of the GHH approved the creation of a "civil servants colony" (whereby the term “civil servants” was understood in the sense of senior executives). Planning and design were assigned to the Berlin architect Bruno Möhring in 1910.

In four construction phases - partly delayed by the First World War - a total of 21 houses with 35 apartments were built. The living space varied - apparently according to the rank of the intended residents - between around 300 m² in free-standing villas and around 150 m² in apartment buildings. The smaller apartments also offered considerably more space than those in average working-class settlements. In some cases, separate entrances and accommodations were provided for servants and other domestic workers.

The status of the residents was represented more indirectly by the architecture of the houses, however, was expressed more strongly in the preferred - largely isolated - residential area, the individual design of the individual houses and the partial park character of the complex. The settlement was separated from the actual factory premises by several railway embankments and separated from Sterkrader Straße (today: Konrad-Adenauer-Allee) by a wide strip of greenery. The park character of the settlement was reinforced by the fact that it was built opposite Oberhausen Castle and the associated Kaisergarten. It is said to have been intended to build the General Director's villa in an exposed location, directly opposite the castle; however, this plan did not materialize.

After the Second World War and the break-up of the GHH Group, the individual houses were each divided into two apartments. The later owner ( Thyssen AG ) considered demolishing the estate at times; However, it was placed under monument protection and is still inhabited today. The closed character of the settlement has been partially lost in recent years because a pedestrian path now leads through it to the Oberhausen Gasometer and more houses were built along this path as part of the IBA Emscherpark .

The Grafenbusch settlement is part of the Route of Industrial Culture .

literature

  • Roland Günter, Bodo Herzog: The development of upper-class living culture and Bruno Möhring's avant-garde settlement for senior managers at Gutehoffnungshütte in Oberhausen. In: Joachim Petsch (ed.): Architecture and urban development in the 20th century. Vol. 2, Berlin 1975, pp. 158-211.
  • Maria Manuela Sleyman: The Grafenbusch settlement in Oberhausen by Bruno Möhring - an architectural history. In: Origins and developments of the city of Oberhausen. Vol. 5, 1996, pp. 157-172.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinz Reif: The belated city. Industrialization, urban space and politics in Oberhausen 1846–1929. Textband, Cologne 1993, p. 137.

Web links

Commons : Siedlung Grafenbusch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files