Berghausen water tower

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Berghausen water tower, monument since May 2005

The water tower of the former Jacobi brothers company in Langenfeld - Berghausen has been a monument since May 2005.

General

Up until the beginning of the 20th century, Langenfeld was largely structured on an agrarian basis, which means that agriculture played a major role in the working life of the population living here . Until the middle of the 19th century there was no industry or trade in Langenfeld , the people lived exclusively on the income from their farms . It was only with the beginning of industrialization , which was particularly evident in Langenfeld- Hardt , that there were further opportunities to earn a living. Nevertheless, in 1882 92% of all households were counted as those with agriculture.

In parallel to the industrial development, there was also a change in agriculture. As more and more people were forced to live off the land, precisely because even industrial workers were supplied with too, efforts were made early, the difficulty here arable wrest floor made higher yields. The earliest information about systematic horticulture has been handed down by the Protestant pastor (1775–1783) at the Martin Luther Church "Johannes Löh". '' Löh '' cultivated seeds and passed on his seeds to his fellow men. His efforts thus helped the general public. Sun reported District '' Hauer '' in 1832 that Rich Rath and Reusrath in the statistics although in terms of the cultivation of fruit only in 7th position and in the fruit tree plantations were even only in 8th position, but in the cultivation of vegetables the fourth Took place in the district of Solingen . The reason for the lower yields in fruit tree cultivation, however, was more likely that the land was obviously very difficult to cultivate .

Due to a profitable for vegetable growing soil in any case the decision farmer '' Lambert Nix '' in the 1870s for a change of residence to Reusrath and thus ushered in a new era. To this end, he acquired the Hecke in Hecke estate and grew vegetables there on a commercial basis, which he sold in the surrounding markets . His economic success quickly found imitators. At the same time, Langenfeld's agriculture today reflects the overall economic development after 1945: on ever larger farms, more and more food is being grown with fewer and fewer people (" mechanization of agriculture "). In Langenfeld, farms have been able to hold their own, some of which are also active in the tree nursery and ornamental plants sector. Another remnant from the old days are the horticultural associations , whereby in 1992 1,000 of the 1400 members lived in Langenfeld alone, which with six associations of this type also has the highest number of horticultural associations in a municipality in the Mettmann district .

To the monument itself

history

The history of the tower begins in 1934, when the Jacobi brothers planned a water tower to supply water to their large nursery . You followed the example of the farmer Lambert Nix , if you like, and moved from Wuppertal to Langenfeld to grow vegetables . The water tower was to be built by the Heinrich Rotterdam construction company , which had already emerged through church buildings (e.g. St. Paulus ) . Their first plan to fully develop the storeys with an iron staircase running outside , however, met with resistance from the licensing authority, and even the council of experts was called in. Finally, an internal staircase from a height of 8 meters was prescribed. The reasons for the objection by the approval authority were aesthetic reasons. Nevertheless, according to the expert opinion , this decision did not reveal any principles of a "blood-and-soil architecture" in the building , but "the qualities of an aesthetic modernity increased when the stairs were moved inside." After the changed plans were presented on October 5, 1935, the tower was built by the Rotterdam construction company.

description

Contrary to the initial plans, the tower was not free-standing, but connected to an already existing angular structure. It has flat brick walls on all four sides . The floor slabs , each made of reinforced concrete , do not appear to the outside. In the south and north of the nearly square , six-storey and over 20 meter high building, there are only two small triangular windows at the height of the water tank . In addition, the position of the container cannot be determined from the exterior facade . The varied arrangement of the window surfaces has an invigorating effect . The outside staircase to the third floor , which was once probably not converted , was presumably only enclosed in the 1950s. It swings up to the second floor on the west side and bends to the third floor on the south side. The original layouts have been preserved inside, but the residential use does not detract from this. The flat roof construction supporting the skylight emerges with only a small overhang.

rating

From an artistic point of view, the tower is surprisingly high-quality evidence of a functional building that can be attributed to the New Objectivity . The design of the plan and the balance of the composition were of astonishing quality, especially against the background of the execution of a plan for a local construction company. The varied windowing of the exterior façades, which is reminiscent of the Gelsenkirchen "Hans-Sachs-Haus" by the well-known architect Alfred Fischer, is also emphasized. Particularly noticeable is the increase in quality compared to the original draft, which apparently was not due to external influences (namely the advisory council that was called upon), but was a draft of its own. From a scientific point of view, the water tower is an economic historical proof of the growth in size of a gardening business, which ultimately even made it necessary to build a water tower. At this size one could have assumed a tower in connection with a communal water supply. In terms of urban planning, the tower impresses with its location between the B 8 and the Cologne - Düsseldorf railway line , where it offers travelers a noticeable vertical accent.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Rolf Müller: City history Langenfeld. Langenfeld City Archives, Langenfeld 1992, ISBN 3-929365-01-4 .
  2. ↑ a b c Expertise according to § 22 (1) DSchG NRW, water tower of the Jacobi brothers in Langenfeld, Am Schiefers Grund from May 25, 2005

Coordinates: 51 ° 6 ′ 41 ″  N , 6 ° 55 ′ 57 ″  E