Nellessen cloth factory
The Carl Nellessen, JM Sohn cloth factory was one of the oldest and largest cloth factories in Aachen and had its headquarters in Mörgensgasse, today Mörgensstraße. It achieved a notable level of notoriety when its employees played a key role in the Aachen riot of August 30, 1830 . At the end of the 1920s, the company had to be shut down as a result of the global economic crisis .
Parts of the buildings, which were badly damaged in World War II , were extensively restored and refurbished by René von Schöfer from 1952 and later placed under monument protection. Today, these rooms include a branch of the Aachen theater with offices, rehearsal rooms and the so-called “Mörgens” theater, a stage for new forms of theater for a young audience.
history
The company was founded by Franz Nellessen, who previously owned a cloth factory in Burtscheid , which he relocated to his father-in-law's estate in Mörgensgasse in Aachen in 1737. He expanded the complex and set up a spinning , dyeing and shear mill there and also leased a fulling mill in Herzogenrath and a rough mill in Nothberg . In order to overturn the rigid guild rules of the Aachen Gaffelbrief , which dictated the number of looms , staff and products to the cloth companies at that time , he organized his company according to the publishing system . This made it possible for him to use the work of numerous weavers from the nearby Eifel in the form of home work and to fall back on looms in Hauset , Nothberg and Büsbach .
Johann Matthias Nellessen (1726–1781), one of Franz Nellessen's sons, took over his father's factory and in turn passed it on to his son Franz Carl Nellessen . The latter traded the company under the name "Carl Nellessen, JM Sohn" and was mentioned in the Aachen Council and State Calendar of 1791 as "Merchant trading in Spanish-ruffling cloths". As a supplement to his main company, Franz Carl Nellessen acquired the Gut Gedau copper farm in the valley of the Inde near Stolberg , which he had converted into a spinning and weaving mill, and the neighboring platter mill, which he used as a cloth washing mill for the dyed cloths.
After the death of Franz Carl Nellessen in 1819, his four sons Heinrich (1789–1866), Carl (1799–1871), Theodor (1802–1880) and Franz (1805–1862) took over the entire company. They expanded the complex and had new, spacious production buildings built between 1822 and 1830, including the imposing 22-axis rectangular building and the boiler room with the distinctive chimney. In 1826 they also equipped the factory with the first 8 hp steam engine.
Around 1830 the company employed around 1200 people on 400 handlooms . Despite the good order situation, there was a riot in Aachen on August 30, 1830 in front of the factory gates, in which the factory workers complained about penalties in the wage payment after a cloth cutter had been deducted a tenth of his weekly wages due to a damaged cloth. They also complained about the low earnings and the introduction of the new steam-powered machines, which were primarily supplied by James Cockerill's machine factory . The introduction of this new technology was viewed by the workers as competition and was made jointly responsible for the wage cuts. The workers then moved to the city palace of Cockerill on Friedrich-Wilhelm-Platz No. 7 and demolished a large part of his home furnishings. With the support of the police and a vigilante group, the riot was suppressed in some areas with bloodshed, and production was resumed and, over time, even increased.
Twenty years later, the company grew to become Aachen's largest cloth factory with 1700 employees and 85 mechanical looms. In 1860, a further expansion was necessary and the company management had a new power plant and a shed roof hall built as a wool store on their site . In addition, they took over the property on the opposite side of the street as well as the former town house of the Moirke family built by Johann Joseph Couven , from which several mayors of the imperial city of Aachen had emerged, and arranged for the building complex to be converted into a mincing, winding and spinning mill with a separate machine room.
After the death of the four brothers, the company was transferred to Alfred Nellessen (1838–1902), the eldest son of Theodor, who in turn bequeathed it to his son Georg (1875–1948). Overall, despite the Kesselkaul cloth factory established in the neighborhood since 1856, the Nellessen cloth factory was able to maintain its high level and it wasn't until the economic crisis at the end of the 1920s, led by the last managing director, Hans Graf von Matuschka, that “C. Nellessen, JM Sohn ”including the branch offices. As part of an auction, the factory buildings in Mörgensstrasse were transferred to the “Dechamps & Merzenich” cloth factory run by Paul Dechamps , which produced there until it was severely damaged in the Second World War. The facility at Gut Gedau was taken over by the “Bartholomey Cloth and Torn Wool Factory” and used it until 1958.
building
The original building complex, which was built between 1822 and 1830 as part of the expansion, consisted of an elongated 22x3-axis and five-storey block with a floor plan depth of 7.70 meters and was completed in 1825 according to the entry on the anchor pin . In the alignment of the main building, the boiler and machine house with the preserved brick chimney was attached, to which a further five-story building was attached. Later on, further company buildings were added around an almost triangular inner courtyard, such as the two-storey shed roof hall and the blue factory that is still preserved today.
After the heavy destruction in the Second World War, the Aachen architect and professor at RWTH Aachen University , René von Schöfer, only rebuilt the corner building including the chimney using the remaining material based on the original, but this time with 18x5 axes and four storeys. These changes meant that only the chimney was included in the list of listed buildings by the monument authority.
In addition, parts of the former town house of the Moirke family used by the factory have been preserved, which today belong to the complex of the neighboring Alexianer Hospital . They have also been restored and renovated and placed under monument protection.
Web links
- Walter Buschmann: Cloth factory Nellessen , on Rhenish industrial culture
Individual evidence
- ↑ entry of Fine Tonhauser to Good Gedau in the database " KuLaDig " of the Regional Association of the Rhineland
- ↑ Aachen uprising on August 30, 1830 , on wannewitz.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 14.8 " N , 6 ° 4 ′ 52.3" E