Mining colonies: Cité-Oost, Beringen-Mijn

Beringen-Mijn is a residential area within the borough of Beverlo in Beringen. Beringen-Mijn came into existence as a result of the foundation of the coalmine of Beringen. The name literally means: Beringen by the mine. In 1906 the concession for exploiting the Beeringen-Coersel coalfield was granted. A year later the Société anonyme Charbonnages de Beeringen (Beringen Colliery PLLC) was set up and work started on sinking two pits. The first workmen were housed in wooden barracks that stood to the north of the pits along the Stationsstraat.

Two railway lines pass the mine site. The first was started in 1878, the second -named the coal track- wasn't constructed until 1925. Before that time the railway ended at Beringen-Mijn station located at the end of the Stationsstraat (literally Station Street). Two narrow gauge tracks branched of this railway; the first track (1907) led to the two pits and the second (1925) ran of the first branch to the harbour on the Albert Canal.

In 1908 six Mulhouse Quadrangles were built on the Dwarsstraat  (literally: transverse street) and Klimopstraat (Ivy Street) situated parallel to the Stationsstraat. The six Mulhouse Quadrangles were already old-fashioned at the time they were built. Subsequent housing would therefore take a different form. Instead of another row of Mulhouse Quadrangles five short terraces with four dwelling and two semidetached houses were built in 1910 along the north side of the Stationsstraat.

WWI interfered with the mine being taken into production. So the next houses weren't built until 1919. These houses in a traditionalist or vernacular style were built to house middle management. They are located on either side of the Laan op Vurten, an old thoroughfare linking Beverlo and Koersel via the hamlet of Vurten.

Between 1920 and 1924 a small garden village was built north of the small gauge railway. It consists of a semicircular street witch streets snaking off it giving an emblematic sunrise pattern. In the small garden village known as Cité-Oost or Tuinwijk Beverlo mainly semidetached houses were built. During these years builders developed the first half of the Stationsstraat towards the Koolmijnlaan (this was after all the new main road linking Beverlo and Beringen). In the centre a school with kindergarten (bewaarschool) was completed in 1926. By that time the Cité-Oost had been extended northwards. Near the old hamlet of Kleine Heide (literally: Little Heath) on straight streets short terraces of 4 dwellings and some semidetached houses had been built in 1924. Between 1924 and 1930 more private housing was developed between the garden village and the Koolmijnlaan. Also a new narrow gauge railway was constructed between 1924 and '25 linking the mine to the newly dug harbour on the newly completed Albert Canal.

 

  

The rather striking and emblematic layout of the Cité was inspired by the garden city movement. Unwinesk treatment of the houses can be seen on the corners and at the end of streets. Two closes have been incorporated, as playing fields not as an idyllic motif of cottages around a village green. The backbone of the layout is formed by the old route called Laan op Vurten (LoV literally Avenue to Vurten). Another important line is formed by the first new road, the Stationsstraat (Ss), that linked the new main road to the railway station at Beringen-Mijn (B). At the heart was a large school (S) with a milk dispensary (M). Near the station the so-called Hotels (H) were first built. On the edge lay the old hamlet of Kleine Heide (KH). On the pivot point with the Cité-West  a large church (C) was built.

The directors of the mine not only wanted to provide good housing for their employees with families, but also set about attracting single young men into the collieries workforce. To this end they erected three so-called Hotels (lodgings) on the south side of the Stationsstraat between 1923 an '24. Each "hotel" comprised of twenty rooms, two canteens and two washrooms. In the later years a smaller hotel was built on the Hotelstraat and in the Cité-West (also known as Tuinwijk Koersel). In 1929 new houses in a similar style to the other houses were built on the edges of the garden village, mostly on the side of the railway.

Development of the mining colony started close to the colliery and slowly moved towards the old hamlet of Kleine Heide.

In 1937 land was acquired by the mining firm to build a large church. This so-called Mine Cathedral (Mijnkathedraal) is a stern building with a massive tower and a cloister on both ends. The impressive building was consecrated in 1943. It is now mostly disused. The reason can be guessed when we look at the Mosque in the Klimopstraat, the largest in this part of Belgium.

The layout of this mining colony is still intact. Glimpses of the pit towers can still be got from within the Cité-Oost. The Cité-Oost has been designated Industrial and Architectural Heritage as Tuinwijk Beverlo (ID: 22201). Sadly this does not mean that the ensemble is protected from ill-considered augmentation and modern "improvement". This is a result of the privatization of the dwellings and can be seen all over Belgium. What is left could still be saved, but urgent action is needed! Together with the western mining colony Beringen-Mijn is a prime example of how the garden city ideas were implemented by the industrialists and translated by architects into a coherent residential unit.

 

 

The only monument in the Cité-Oost is this Melkhuisje (milk cottage) where fresh milk was provided for the miners and additional food aid was distributed to poor families (mostly caused by the death of the breadwinner down the pit). The building is said to date from 1927.