Mining colonies: Kolonie Möllenbruckshof, Neukirchen

Around the same time that the Alte Kolonie was built, another mining colony was built on the other side of the railway. This Kolonie Möllenbruckshof was developed between 1919 and 1925 along the Haubtstraße (main street) on land belonging to the Möllenbruckshof farm. This "main street" was constructed around 1846 to link Moers with Schaephuysen. It is a so-called artificial road (Kunstweg) that was commonly known under its French name as chaussée. Where once the Mühlenbruchhof stood (indicated by M on the sketch) this chausée connects to an older road. The old name of the farmstead explains its meaning: the farm on the mill brook*. On the other side of the stream stood the Londong Hof farm. This land was also developed for housing. The old Höfken farm (h) on the Larfeldgraben still stands here today.

The Kolonie Möllenbruckshof was laid out around a central public garden (Buchenplatz - B) with curved streets running of it towards the dirt road that's now called Jahnstraße. This more or less straight road connected the Hugenhof farm to the village of Neukirchen via the Klein Hugenhof farm (K) located on the crossing of the Hugengraben. The mining colony Möllenbruckshof does follow English garden city inspired neighbourhoods. It is the only one of the Niederberg mining colonies to do so! The colony is connected to the Plattenkolonie by a road crossing the railway east of the now decommissioned station (s). Between this road and the station the town hall (T) was built after WW2.

The layout of this mining colony differs from the other colonies of the Niederberg colliery. The curved streets all connect existing roads to a central public space. The houses are built in short rows of 4 or 5. In some places semidetached houses are built as well as detached houses and short rows of 3 houses. The semidetached and detached houses are concentrated in the south of the neighbourhood. The later additions of the Jahnsiedlung are shown as hatched blocks. This neighbourhoud differs in architecture, the roofs (the older buildings have hipped and half-hipped roofs) and the increased length of the terraces.

The placement of houses along the streets doesn't follow Unwinesk principles, as there is little variation in the building line and corner buildings don't swerve in or out, nor are they placed at a 45° angle (exept for 1). Also there is no emphasis at the centre with a larger building or a special function like a school or lodgings house. Furthermore closes aren't used. All in all this mining colony is best characterized as a simplified garden city inspired neighbourhood.

* the old German word broich means waterlogged soil or swampland, it later developed into brook in English meaning stream or into bruch/bruck in modern German and brug/broek in Dutch meaning pasture by a stream or low lying meadow.