Examples of vanished workers colonies: Westend, Schederhof and Kronenberg

From an ideological as well as a well understood business perspective the Krupp family advocated good housing for its workers. Thus the housing was better than what could be expected in the regular tenements (Mietskasernen). The earliest housing was built as so-called Mulhouse Quadragles or as rows of tenements with a central kitchen, washroom, communal toilets and a family room in every dwelling. From the 1870s amenities such as schools, a church, a post office, a park, a playing field, a market square and community hall were included in the schemes. They thus can be seen as forerunners of workers housing along the lines of the Garden City Movement. There is however, a very big difference! This housing was provided by the employer and was also aimed at tying the worker and his family to the company. This was done by providing clubs and decent housing but also by truck systems for instance with a company store (Konsumanstallt) where all employees should buy their essentials.

Every workers colony was in principle a company town. They were all located outside of the city in the Dreibauernschaft of Altendorf, Frohnhausen and Holsterhausen. The local politicians were overwhelmed by the effects of the rapid urbanisation and were very thankful to the Krupp family for arranging for urban plans and the provision of housing and amenities. By the end of the nineteenth century a Krupp city had been built next to the old city of Essen.

The workers colony Kronenberg (K) on the edge of Altendorf (A) and the workers colony Schederhof (S) in Holsterhausen (H) were both located adjacent to the Krupp Steel Works. Workers colony Westend (W) was located within the confines of the plant, mostly within the boundary of the city of Essen. Kronenberg was situated directly north of the station (Bahnhof - B) and a goods depot (G) on the Essen-Mülheim railway line. The town hall of the Burgemeisterei Altendorf (H) stood in between Altendorf and Holsterhausen. The resident from these colonies had the Lutherkirche (C), a large church located in Frohnhausen, built for them by the Krupp company in 1881.

The three workers colonies on the west side of the steel works were dwarfed by the factory buildings. This was especially true of Westend (1863 + 1870) the first of these colonies built by Krupp. It comprise of two building phases with in the northern half long barracks arranged in parallel fashion at some distance to a street. The second phase has a small garden square at its heart with more  tenement blocks around it. At the side a block was built for office workers with a large company shop and a Bierhalle (a drinking hall that is more or less equivalent to a community hall).

Schederhof (1872) is similar to Westend. It also comprises of two spatial ideas. In Schederhof the first building phase consisted only of simple timber framed houses that could be best described as barracks. These are built along two old rural lanes in parallel rows to fill the available plot. The second phase comprised of brick tenement blocks with covered wooden stairs on the outside. These were all arranged along a pre-existing road around a market square and a park. Again the plot was completely developed with gravel paths in between. Amenities were included along the edged, with a large park for recreation. At some distance allotment gardens were also provided for the residents of this colony.

Next to it a free school (fS) was built. Another non-denominational school was the Haushaltschule or domestic service school (dS).All other schooling provided was either an evangelical school (eS) or a catholic school (kS). These three colonies were different in their architecture and number of houses. At the centre of each colony lay an open space, in Kronenberg this was a central market square (4) with a post office (1), a company store (2), a beer hall (3) and a concert hall (5) on the edge of a park (P). Around the edges bleaching greens (6) were provided. Schederhof also had a large central square next to a park (P). On this square a large company store with bakery (7) was built. On the edges of this colony further amenities such as a boarding house for apprentices (8), a pharmacy (9) and a plant nursery (10) were provided. Westend only had a company store (2) and a beer hall (3).

The largest workers colony Kronenberg (1874) has affinity with the other colonies in layout, but shows more maturity in the design ideas. Kronenberg was given a very clear structure of streets planted with trees with building either positioned along or perpendicular to these streets. Most tenement blocks were accessed from the streets from both sides, thus allowing for greater density and flexibility in the layout of each dwelling. Only 4 types were built. This is however double the number in comparison to the other two workers colonies shown here.  

Kronenberg had 8.000 residents in brick-built 3 storey blocks on orthogonal alphabetical streets. At the heart of this settlement all amenities were located around a central market square. This greatly improved the sense of place, which is the biggest problem in grid layouts with similar housing. Schools were located around the edges of the workers colony, as these also served neighbouring workers colonies.

These colonies were a vast improvement for the resident at the time they were built. But only two decades later in 1893 the head of the company Friedrich Alfred Krupp decides that low-rise family housing is the more desirable option for workers housing and he commissions Altenhof I from the Krupp Housing Bureau. Around 1900 his wife has become a fervent supporter of the garden city ideals which ties in neatly with Altenhof. Thus the old colonies were deemed old-fashioned and became less desirable. All were removed for development of industrial buildings between 1937 and 1957. Now nothing remains of these 3 and 2 other of the workers colonies built by the Krupp Company in de 19th century.