Gartenstadt Dahlhauserheide, Bochum: a garden city for miners

Bochum, located between Essen and Dortmund,  in the heart of the Ruhr Area is situated between the rivers Ruhr and Emscher on the border of the northern and southern sections of the Ruhrrevier. The city of Bochum incorporated many smaller villages at the end of the 19^th century, thus gaining many collieries and other industrial sites with the workers colonies built especially for these. Many more settlements were incorporated between 1904 and 1929. In 1975 the city of Wattenscheid was merged with Bochum. The village of Hordel, near Wattenscheid was incorporated by Bochum in 1926. Heavy industry developed quickly after 1830 and peaked around 1929 with over 70 pits on 59 collieries. Well-known collieries are Zeche Prinz-Regent, Zeche Hannover, Zeche Hannibal, Zeche Constantin and Zeche Hasenwinkel.

In 1890 the Krupp Company bought the Manor of Dahlhausen (Rittergut Dahlhausen) located near their coal mines Hannibal and Hannover and the Zeche Carolinenglück further south that was owned by the Bochum Mining Union. The manor comprised of a large expanse of heathland (Dahlhauserheide), a manor house on a brook, a watermill and a few farms and fields. Robert Schmohl, who had lead the Krupp Building Department since 1892 was asked in 1905 to design a large new colony for the miners and workers of the two collieries. The Krupp family was by that time on board with the Reform Movement and instructed Schmohl to create a garden city instead of the typical colony that were built for instance around Eickel and Heβler.

Siedlung Dahlhauserheide was built on the heath below the manor house. The manor house is still standing. The watermill on the Hüllerbach was eventually torn down as most of the old cottages. Incidentally, the village of Dahlhausen is not located near this manor, but 8 km further south on the river Ruhr. The garden city was a true suburban satellite located between the existing urban areas of Bochum, Gelsenkirchen and Wattenscheid.

As per usual the housing was divided in classes. All housing was designed in a Westphalian vernacular resembling farm houses and cottages. The streets show the influence of park design from the period and Sitte-esque aesthetic with curved or short straight streets with variable building line. There are no true closes, that staple of English garden city design, but rather kinked streets behind main streets. Amenities were also included, especially schools and sports and leisure facilities. Two Konsumanstalten (Cooperative Shops) and a Bierhalle (Beer Hall) were also included. Each house had a garden, many had a small stable or outbuilding as the Reform Movement advocated a return to living in tune with nature and growing your own food. As a result of the many vegetable gardens Siedlung Dahlhauserheide was colloquially known as Kappeskolonie (Cabbage Colony).

The outline of this garden village is rounded giving it a natural feel especially in combination with the curved streets. The central axis is formed by the street “Hordeler Heide”. This is not a formal axis and a new line. Some old dirt tracks were transformed into residential streets linking the suburban satellite to its surroundings. The amenities and green public spaces are located on pivotal points in the layout; these include primary schools (ps), a kindergarten (kg), a chapel (c), Konsumanstalt (ka), park, beer hall (bh) and sports hall (sh). Sitte-esque or Unwinesque design principles (in orange) are employed to create spatial end visual interest at intersections and along streets. Illustration based on Jansen/Wetterau 2002.

In total 339 semidetached houses were built in 40 types on 8 different floor plans with a further 37 detached houses for the foremen, making 715 units in total. The streets are mostly named after the surrounding coal fields. The whole does feel like a village, as was the intention of Schmohl and Krupp. To preserve the character of the garden city -or better garden village- a Gestaltungssatzung (design regulations framework) was agreed in 1980. Most of the buildings have thus maintained their original appearance. The housing has however not officially been listed.