City railway depot Düsseldorf

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Former Rheinbahndepot, from the southwest

The Düsseldorf Stadtbahndepot is a listed traffic building in the Oberbilk district of Düsseldorf . Today it is used for residential purposes.

Building description

The load-bearing steel construction of the main hall is particularly valuable. The curved steel girders spanning 27 meters are anchored in the ground. The outer walls are adorned with visible masonry and risalits , but do not fulfill any load-bearing function. The historic wooden gates on the west side of the hall are also listed. The buildings rest on extensive pile foundations , as the site previously belonged to a gravel pit with a poor subsoil.

In addition to the central assembly hall, the depot included several outbuildings before the conversion, which served as a storage room and repair shop. An extensive rail network inside and outside the hall was also in place until the redesign of the site began. The rails have been preserved on the forecourt, which is also under monument protection.

Building history

The tram depot was built in 1914 for the Rheinische Bahngesellschaft AG . It was in use for its original purpose until 1992. A few years as a commercial property followed until a project developer suggested converting it into a retail location. However, since the city administration assessed this use with skepticism and considerable investments in fire protection would have been necessary, this use failed already in the design phase. However, this development prompted the city of Düsseldorf to put out an investor competition in 2004 for the residential use of the almost 20 hectare area. In it sat Hochtief Construction by who wanted the depot main hall converted into apartment blocks and build south of it townhouses in the extensive grounds.

However, the client was the Cologne real estate company Vivacon , which acquired the property and building in mid-2006 and commissioned Hochtief with the redesign. Work began in October 2006 and the first sections were completed at the end of 2007.

The renovation work meant extensive gutting of the hall, in the course of which the outbuildings as well as the west and south walls were removed and the pile foundations were cut. The north walls received larger window openings than in the original state. The restoration of steel girders, roof and wooden gates as well as the rail system on the forecourt followed. Seven new buildings were erected in the hall, containing 79 apartments with a total of around 5500 square meters of living space. 22 row houses were built south of the hall.

Vivacon marketed the properties on the site under the heritable building right under the name “Wilde 13” . 70 percent of the apartments in the hall were bought by investors, while the terraced houses in particular went to owner-occupiers.

literature

Federal Institute for Building, Urban and Spatial Research (Ed.): Conversion of non-residential buildings into residential properties - Documentation of the case studies, 2015, PDF version

Web links