Mining colonies: Cité André Dumont

Work at the Waterschei-site started in 1909. At the end of that year the railroad on As was completed. It started at Zwartberg, a former testing ground for anti aircraft defense cupolas, and connected to the main railway Hasselt-Maaseik (completed 1873). At first it was an industrial goods track. With the extension of the railway to Winterslag in 1925 a passenger service was started. This meant that train stations were needed. These were built where before simple goods sheds and platforms had stood. Both stations are located next to the spot where an old route crosses the railway track.

The mining colony has a differentiated layout completely separate from the older landscape. The older settlements of Heppenzeel (1) and Waterschei (2) lie south of the large garden suburb but have little connection to it besides the historic Stalenstraat (3) and the newly cut André Dumontlaan (4). In the west the edge of the  colony corresponds to a number of large parcels on the Stralense Heide (SH). Besides the offices (O), pit towers (P), train station (T) and the large villa (V) of the colliery executive, the garden suburb has amenities such as hostels (h), a hospital (H), a school complex (S), a small park (p), two churches (K) and a culture club named 'Casino' (C).

The site chosen for the new colliery lay on the heath bordering the hamlet of Waterschei. A specialized workforce had to be brought in to sink the two pits and construct the mining rail tracks and the first functional buildings. A large tract of land was acquired for the colliery and an accompanying housings district.  Both colliery and mining colony were named after André Dumont, who initiated mining near As.

The development of the Waterschei garden village is predominantly the work of architect Gaston Voutquenne. Before he arrived at Waterschei engineer J. Verwilgen had planned a strict grid with parallel streets (1912) along which the new housing would be built. During the first building phase of the Cité André Dumont construction started near the main seat of the mining company with rows of Mulhouse Quadrangles for the workmen sinking the pits and villas for the higher echelons, including the imposing executive villa. The new housing was organized hierarchically, both in location as well in the internal layout of the dwellings.

Due to limited financial means and the First World War, building activity in Waterschei came to a temporary halt between 1914 and 1918.

During the 1920s the extension of the mining colony was resumed; this time under the auspice of Voutquenne. The stark grid of the industrial cité charbonière was abandoned by Voutquenne in favour of the garden city idiom. He designed a garden suburb in which winding roads and attention to greenery were aimed at creating a stimulating and agreeable environment for the miners. The axiality of the grid was replaced with a large curved loop that connected the ends of the main streets of the earlier grid. This layout closely follows park design of the period with a belt walk and winding paths within this perimeter that crossed off centre. The Belt road of the garden suburb was appropriately named Ceintuurlaan (a ceintuur is a belt or girdle). By July 1923, the garden suburb had 320 dwellings for workers and middle management, with some ninety more homes under construction. All the public facilities such as water, electricity and sewerage were included. 

It is often stated that the Cité André Dumont has been built in three building campaigns, the first in 1912, the second in 1925 and the final in 1947. This can clearly not be true when the urban morphology of streets and buildings is taken into consideration. The first building phase, the colony proper, (shown in deep red) probably ran from 1912 to 1915 and conforms to the colliery grid. The second building phase ran between 1920 and 1925 (shown in bright red) and encompasses the larger part of the garden suburb. An extension (shown in tangerine) was made somewhere between 1924 and '28 on the west side of the belt road. Around the same time amenities were implanted. Somewhere between 1930 and 1935 two further extensions (shown in orange) were made linking the garden suburb to the Stalenstraat and the neighbouring Zwartberg mining colony.   

At the end of the 1920s and mainly during the 1930s the garden suburb was extended beyond the belt road towards the west and south. In developing his plan Voutquenne looked to find a connection, particularly to the Stalenstraat, to the Waterschei train station and to the neighbouring Zwartberg mining colony.  The small neighbourhood behind the hospital (1928) was built to link the garden suburb to the Stalenstraat (which had developed into a commercial street with a variety of shops). This extension conforms to the older grid.

To the west two circuits were subsequently added to the belt road, connecting the Cité André Dumont with the central avenue of the neigbouring Zwartberg mining colonies. Both mining colonies were developed towards the edge of the landholdings. Thus the Cité  wasn't extended beyond the woodland on the Stralense Heide (Stralen Heath). 

The design for this large garden suburb marries the older grid (deep red) with a winding style reminiscent of garden design of the early 1900s. Part of the old grid is developed as broad avenues that frame the English inspired garden suburb. Where the two meet amenities and parks and sporting grounds are situated. The design of the garden suburb (in red) consists of a loop and an inner shortcut consisting of three curved roads. Where these roads meet large triangular public gardens are drawn in. All other roads are within the framework of these three curved roads and the two avenues. The extensions (tangerine) on the west side consist of two loops that cross and an angular connection to the main axis of the Zwartberg colony. The extension on the south follow the old grid again. This seems to suggest the older parceling was still in place here.

Mining colonies: Waterschei Genk

The coalmine at Waterschei (that name literally means watershed) is one of seven in the Campine coal basin. The concession named André Dumont-sous-Asch was granted in 1906 after André Dumont had found coal in the village of As (Asch in French) in 1901. The village counsel of As rejected the foundation of a colliery within its borders as they feared large scale immigration, pollution and negative effects on agriculture. The colliery was therefore to be located on the other side of the heath near the hamlet of Waterschei within the parish of Genk on the edge of the arable fields.

Work on sinking the first pit was started in 1912 using the Foraky-method. The work was troubled by set-backs resulting in the pit being completely flooded in 1914. Work on sinking the second pit was started during the first half of 1914 without many problems. Work on both pits was suspended during the Great War to be completed in 1922 (pit 1) and 1928 (pit 2). The first coal was extracted in 1924. Both pit towers are identical and date from 1922.  Between 1920 an 1924 a large representative office building with large hall, bathhouse, changing rooms, directors suite, administration, payment counters and lamp distribution counters was erected on the edge of the site near the Stiemersbeek, a brook that was at first brought underground and now feeds a series of ornamental ponds.

The offices of the colliery were housed in this imposing structure with a tower on the corner and an enormous central hall over two floors with a large window on the front facade. The pit towers at Waterschei were constructed by the Societé Anonyme de Construction et de Chaudronnerie d'Awans from Bierset-Awans near Liége in Wallonia.

The colliery site was initially organized using a grid layout. Housing for the pit workers and engineers was provided on the edge of the site. This housing took the form of Mulhouse Quadrangles and detached and semidetached villas along the Meridiaanlaan (i.e. Meridian Avenue). The villa for the director is located at the centre of this housings strip in its own park like garden. These buildings were erected between 1912 and 1914.  

The original grid of the colliery forms the basis for the area around the Meridiaanlaan and the production site itself. What is surprising is that the later garden village layout in part also uses the old grid and transforms it. This is clearly visible when the gridlines are projected on the street pattern. Especially the amenities (church, school and tennis courts) still have a link with the grid. The director's villa is placed centrally on the crossing point of two gridlines.

After 1920 plans were drawn up for expanding the mining colony. To this end the André Dumontlaan and Duinenlaan were constructed to link the site to the thoroughfare Genk - As. The Genk-Waterschei train station was built at the end of the Duinenlaan (Dune Avenue, as it lead to the heath) in 1925. Perpendicular to the Duinenlaan (and thus the older colliery grid)  a new broad avenue was planted: the  Onderwijslaan. This avenue ended abruptly at the point where the belt road of the garden village called Tuinwijk André Dumont starts. This Ceintuurlaan curves back to the Duinenlaan. The Binnenlaan  (literally: Inner Avenue) divides the garden village east - west. The streets follow a curved alignment reminiscent of park design of the day. South of the Onderwijslaan along an existing route along the Stiemerbeek called Stalenstraat (named after the medieval mansion of Stalen) developed into a commercial district serving the garden village. There was no space allotted for commercial venues (shops, bakery, barber, greengrocer etcetera) within the garden village. Here only amenities were planned and provided buy the mining company. This pattern is seen in all Campine mining colonies.

The street pattern of the garden village follows a simple plan with two avenues along the older grid connected by a belt road (Centuurlaan) and divided by a secondary central road (Middenlaan). The edge of the garden village was determined by the Stalenstraat to the south, the railway line to Zwartberg in the north and the Hoevenzavel to the west.

Between the Stalenstraat and the Onderwijslaan the Tuinwijk-Zuid was developed. It follows a strict street layout of parallel main streets with roundabouts connecting the side streets. After 1944 the central avenue dividing the garden villages to the north and south was extended to join the extended central avenue (Hoevenzavellaan)of the Zwartberg colliery.

After the grid had been abandoned in the 1920s it resurfaced around 1930. We see this in the small development between the Onderwijslaan and Stalenstraat around the Eeuwfeestlaan (i.e. Centenary Avenue, that was celebrated in 1933) and even more pronounced in the post war extension west of it. All streets run parallel and are named in commemoration of WW2.

Genk: A city built on coal

The city of Genk lies at the heart of the Campine coal district of Belgium. With about 65.000 residents Genk is one of the most important Flemish industrial towns. I say town, as Genk only received city status in 2000 and morphologically it certainly differs from the norm. Genk could be best described as a small town that is part of a continuous small scale conurbation.

Originally a Celtic settlement, Genk remained a small village with between 200 and 500 residents throughout the ages. The reason for this was the location on the northern edge of the fertile soils around Hasselt; beyond Genk only heathland was to be found. Small brooks that sprung up on the edges of the wasteland made Genk and the surrounding area inhabitable for small groups of people that settled in villages, hamlets and isolated farmsteads.

The old road system projected onto the present-day aerial image shows a number of small areas of cultivated land separated by heathland. All settlements are located near a brook. Genk was historically characterized by seven hamlets: Genk-dorp (Gd), Winterslag (Wi), Waterschei (Wa), de Bret (Br), Gelieren (Ge), Sledderlo and Langerlo (La). The isolated farmsteads at Boekraak (Bo), Hengelhoef (Hh), Hostart (Ho), Ter Boekt, Driehoeven (Dh) and Camerlo (Ca) lay on the edges of the arable land or far removed near a water crossing (ford).

When the Walloon geologist André Dumont confirmed a coal seam in the neigbouring village of As in 1901, the future of Genk was to change dramatically.  In the following year coal was also found beneath Genk in the hamlet of Winterslag. The colliery that was founded here was the first of the seven Campine coal mines to come into production. The mining concession for the 38.000 hectare site of Genck-Sutendael  at Winterslag was granted in 1906. In the same year the concession André Dumont-sous-Asch at Waterschei and the concession Les Liégeois at Zwartberg were granted. All three collieries were located north of the village of Genk on the heath. The first coal was extracted in 1914, after the Winterslag-mine had been operational for a few years. Between 1900 and 1930 the population exploded to 24.500 inhabitants as a result of the influx of new workers for the three mines. The diversification into manufacturing after 1950 has more than doubled the number of inhabitants again.

The development of Genk as a city was kick started by the discovery of coal. The urbanized area north of the former village of Genk is composed of garden villages (1910-1955, shown in orange) and housing estates (1955-2000 shown in red) that serve mainly to house personnel of the three collieries (shown in yellow). As the emphasis shifted towards manufacturing around the canal and the former coal harbour, the area south of the former village was urbanized. For the most part Genk comprises of urban sprawl (detached, semidetached and short rows of houses). This pattern of urbanization is very common in Belgium. 

Morphologically Genk shares many characteristics with similar urban areas that sprung from industrialization of one sort or another (for instance Tyneside, Gelsenkirchen, Oberhausen and Enschede). Originally consisting of separate urbanized areas close to the industrial activities that eclipsed any historic settlements still in existence (industrialization and the subsequent rapid urbanization often meant that historic settlements were encapsulated or altogether removed) these conurbations consolidate their central area by planned and often enforced high density urbanization and urbanization of the areas around this new centre to form a more or less continues urban fabric. The efforts to make such splintered urban areas into a "proper city" always also includes the realization of wide new thoroughfares and ring roads.  

Within the red outline the urban area of Genk. Note that it connects up to neighbouring As, Houthalen-Oost and Bokrijk. Via the latter, Diepenbeek and Beerenbroek the urban area of Genk connects to the city of Hasselt (also the regional capital). The original landscape still shines through the urban pattern, as the marshes along the brooks have not been developed. The Dorpsbeek (Village Brook) of Genk is an exception. Most of this watercourse was covered and directly south of the railway line an urban strip with large buildings (shown in pink) was developed, among which was the first mall in Belgium.