Siedlung Dahlhauser Heide

Siedlung Dahlhauser Heide, in the vernacular also called “Kappeskolonie", was built by Krupp from 1906 to 1915 for the miners of the Hannover/Hannibal pits.
The architecture deliberately drew upon pre-industrial Dahlhauser Heide houses, also called “Heimatstil” (traditional local style), and lends the estate a village character.
The horse-shoe shaped estate around a park with slightly rolling roads comprised 339 semi-detached houses for miners and six two-and-a-half storey houses for Beamte (mining officials), a total of 715 dwelling units of 45 types.
The estate was planned by the Krupp architectural department’s head, Robert Schmohl, originally from Württemberg, who combined the garden city idea with the afore-mentioned Heimatstil and thus came up with a workers’ housing estate of a village character.
A multifaceted, half-timber-like facade design, much lowered eaves and stables between the houses remind one of Old-Westphalian farms. The predominant type of house is a semi-detached house with an EIK, a ground-floor living room and two bedrooms upstairs.
Lavishly designed vegetable gardens, also for small animals, and nicely grassed rolling roads and squares underscore the picture of a rustic and romantic idyll that we still perceive today.
At the end of the 1970s, Siedlung Dahlhauser Heide was listed by the state conservator, since when extensive modernisation has taken place to improve the quality of living on the estate with the look of the estate kept intact.

Author: Route Industriekultur/ Editorial baukunst-nrw
Last changed on 18.09.2007

Categories:
Urban Design » Square and Neighbourhood Planning
Architecture » Residential buildings » Multiple Housing