Enlightened paternalism: Krupp Factory housing in Essen

The Krupp family had direct ties with the city of Essen dating back centuries. The first time the name is mentioned is in 1587 when Arndt Krupp joins the merchants' guild. He became rich from buying up property from people who had left the city in fear of the bubonic plague. His son Anton took over the family business in 1624 in the middle of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and set up a gunsmithing works. Here the long association of the Krupp family and arms manufacturing started. In the following centuries the Krupp family expand their enterprises and become involved in local government.

The modernisation of the family firm starts with Helene Amelie Krupp-Ascherfeld, the widow of Friedrich J. Krupp, who took over as caretaker in 1757. She acquires several large holdings including a fulling mill, several coal mines and an iron forge. In 1807 she appoints her grandson Friedrich C. Krupp as the manager of the iron forge. Friedrich inherits most of the family fortune upon the widows death in 1810 and spends most on discovering the secret of cast steel production. In 1811 he founds the Krupp Gusstahlfabrik (Cast Steel Works). He erects a large complex with a mill and foundry on the Ruhr river and succeeds in producing smelted steel five years later. On his death in 1826 his fourteen year old son Alfried F.A. Krupp is forced to leaved school en take over the family firm. He soon adapts the English spelling of his name as Alfred Krupp.

Until the invention of the patented spoon roller by his brother Hermann in 1841 the factory struggles to make a profit. The patent is so lucrative that the steel works are extended several timed in the ensuing years. In 1847 the first cast steel canon is produced. The steel works gained fame through several Exhibitions an branch out into train wheels, train tracks, pumps  and propellers. The works expand around the small family home that is extended several times and take up a vast area directly west of the old city of Essen.

Alfred Krupp solely ran the company as a sole proprietorship with strict control over the workers, who where demanded so swear a loyalty oath and not be involved in politics. In return Krupp provided unusually liberal social services including housing colonies, parks, sporting grounds, schools, benefit schemes, a widows' and orphans' fund and pensions. Essen became a large company town and the Krupp company became a de facto state within a state. The family also moved out of their historic residence within the factory grounds and took residence in the enormous Villa Hügel in Bredeney.

The workers' colonies were all located around the steel works and the mines and consisted of grid-based streets with long rows of tenement blocks all parallel to one another. The oldest colonies had limited amenities, but the paternalistic concerns for the workers meant that these were gradually expanded and improved.

After Alfred's death in 1887 his only son Friedrich A. Krupp takes over the firm and carries on his father's lifework. He quickly focussed on the global arms market and became known for nurturing invention. In 1890 the Krupp Company developed nickel steel. In 1892 they went into armor production. From 1893 onwards the newly developed Diesel engine was produces here. In 1896 the Germania Wharf in Kiel was acquired and the company expanded into shipbuilding, later producing the famous U-Boat. Especially his wife was involved in social programs and improving living conditions for the workers. At his death in 1902 his eldest daughter Bertha inherited the entire family estate. As a company lead by a women was unthinkable Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, arranged a marriage (1908) with Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach who had the name Krupp added to his surname. Gustav became company chairman in 1909.  Bertha's sister Barbara Krupp had already married Tilo Freiherr von Wilmowsky in 1907.

Gustav led the company through the first world war by concentrating on artillery manufacture. After the war the firm was forced to renounce arms manufacture and expanded into industrial steel production and components. Bertha actively promoted the old colonies to be decommissioned and be replaced by family housing and inner-city apartment blocks. Especially Bertha was very sceptical of Hitler. Gustav quickly abandoned his initial reservations after the NSDAP had risen to power and became an fervent supporter. This also marks the end of the large garden villages and cottage estates being developed around Essen, as these were based on English ideas (although there is a distinct German vein running through Ebenezer Howards ideas on shared ownership and the provision of social housing that is consistently overlooked by Anglo-Saxon sources).

Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach took over after the death of his father in 1941. He was an avid Nazi supporter and was heavily involved in the German war economy which relied on forced labour and the "acquisition" of strategic assets from occupied countries and certain people. He was trialled for war crimes and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. He was, however, allowed by special decree to return to rebuild the almost devastated factories and steel works. Much of the company housing had also suffered badly from the Allied bombing campaigns, so some were rebuilt but most was demolished and replaced by modernist Plattenbau and high-rises. Upon his death in 1967 Alfr shares were transferred not to his relatives, but into a foundation. In the 1980s most of the housing was privatised or transferred to a social housing society. After being instrumental in the post-war Wirtschaftswunder and a failed take-over of the Thyssen Company, both companies were merged in 1999 as ThyssenKrupp AG.

The gradually expanded factory site (in violet) grew around the old Krupp family home (H) and the Steel Works (W) and was many times the size of the original fortified city of Essen (shown in yellow).The 19th-century workers' colonies were located near the factory site. These Alfred Krupp colonies where: Arbeiterkolonie Westend (1), Arbeiterkolonie Nordhof (2), Arbeiterkolonie, Schederhof (3), Arbeiterkolonie Baumhof (5) next to the Stadtpark (S) and the large Kolonie Kronenberg (4). North of the Villa Hügel (V) by the Baldeneysee (B) the Siedlung Brandenbusch (6) was built for personnel working in the house. These colonies were followed by new housing instigated by Friedrich Alfred Krupp: the Invalidenkolonie Altenhof (7), Alfredshof (8) and Friedrichshof (9). The latter was mostly built after 1900.At the same time the Alfredshof was extended (10) and the Luisenhof (11) was built. After 1903 new housing along the lines of garden city ideals were planned. These include: Siedlung Heimatdank (12), Siedlung Altenhof II (13) and the large Siedlung Margarethenhöhe (14) with a post-war extension (15) located near the Grugapark (G). The Siedlung Pottgiesserhof (16) was completely rebuilt after WW2.