Duisburg City Hall
| Duisburg City Hall | |
|---|---|
 West facade of the town hall at the Old Market | |
  Location within Germany | |
General information | |
| Type | City hall |
Architectural style | Neo-Renaissance |
| Location | Duisburg, Germany |
| Coordinates | 51°26′08″N 6°45′41″E / 51.43556°N 6.76139°E |
Construction started | 1897 |
Completed | 1902 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Friedrich Ratzel |
The Duisburg City Hall (German: Duisburger Rathaus) is the city hall of Duisburg, located at Burgplatz in old town (Altsadt) of Duisburg, right bank of Inner Harbour.[1]
History
Previous buildings
The existence of a town hall in Duisburg can only be traced indirectly in 1274. At that time, councilors ( Latin: consules) were first mentioned. The building where the councilors met first appears in records in 1361 as "domus consulum" (Latin: house of the councilors) . This was the last remaining structure of the royal palace that formed the core of the later city. It had been built in the Romanesque style and survived the devastating fire of 1283, which destroyed all the other buildings of the palace complex.
The town hall was located slightly further south than the current building and faced west towards the Old Market, while to the east lay the now-vanished Wine Market. The oldest depiction of the town hall dates back to Johannes Corputius 's plan of 1566. It shows a three-story building with a gable roof . The paired windows indicate its Romanesque origins. In the 16th century, an adjacent house was incorporated into the town hall. Little is known about any renovations to the town hall.
It underwent extensive renovations in 1802, incorporating rubble from the demolished Koblenz tower. The old town hall was used for centuries and only lost its function due to population growth in the first half of the 19th century. In the 1840s, the oldest town hall was demolished and replaced with a larger new building, which for the first time faced the castle square and was completed in 1843. This building already featured a town hall passageway surmounted by a tower. The second town hall presented itself as a functional structure; only the bifora window arrangement echoed the Romanesque tradition.
The second town hall reached its capacity limits just thirty years after its completion. To ensure the administration of the rapidly growing population resulting from industrialization , the town hall was expanded several times. The most striking addition was the tower, which took place in 1888 in connection with the purchase of an electric town hall clock . However, the distinctive slate-roofed tower was only to stand for just under 20 years, because Duisburg's population more than doubled between 1871 and 1895, forcing the city council to make a fundamental decision.[2]
Construction phase and inauguration
On December 6, 1895, the city administration published a competition for the design of a new town hall. A total of 15,000 marks was offered as prize money, to be divided among the top three winners. Eighty-three designs were submitted. First prize was awarded to two assistants at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology , Friedrich Ratzel and C. Boes, for their design, "Blue Five-Pointed Star." However, after receiving the prize money, the plans had to be revised due to changes requested by the city council. At this stage, Boes withdrew from the project, leaving Friedrich Ratzel solely responsible as architect.
To accommodate the significantly larger footprint of the town hall between Burgplatz and the Old Market, the city had to acquire approximately 25 houses and plots of land before construction could begin. Further demolitions were also necessary to adapt the dimensions of Burgplatz to the planned town hall. The town hall was built in stages because Ratzel was required to ensure that administrative operations continued during the construction period. During the construction work, the castle researcher Konrad Plath conducted excavations. In one such excavation, an approximately three-meter-long section of the early medieval palace wall was lowered beneath the foundations of the town hall under construction to serve as a cornerstone.
Before construction could begin on the northern section of the building complex surrounding the Gothic Church of the Savior , objections from the Royal Prussian Government had to be addressed. The government had demanded that the building wing near the church be lowered and that the church be given more space. Construction began on August 15, 1897. The northern wing was ready for occupancy on April 1, 1900. Subsequently, the old town hall was demolished. During the construction of the tower in the following months, further houses had to be torn down because the foundations were becoming unstable.
The town hall was inaugurated on May 3, 1902. Large segments of the city's population participated in the celebrations. The route to the town hall was lined with garlands and laurel trees. The festivities reached their climax at 11:00 a.m. in the large council chamber. Mayor Karl Lehr welcomed the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Finance, the High President of the Rhine Province, Berthold von Nasse , and the Regional President as guests. After the ceremonial handover of the town hall keys to the mayor and a tour of the building, a celebratory dinner was held in the concert hall . The construction of the town hall had cost a total of 2.6 million gold marks, thus consuming more than a third of the city of Duisburg's annual budget at that time.[3]
Changes to the building
The continued growth of the city of Duisburg soon necessitated interior renovations. The council chamber's furnishings had to be repeatedly adapted to changing circumstances. Between 1902 and 1924, the municipal collections, the predecessor of the Museum of Cultural and Urban History, as well as the Lehmbruck Museum, were housed in the town hall. In addition, the restrooms were expanded to meet evolving hygiene standards. Furthermore, the foyer was significantly reduced in size by the addition of a porter's lodge and the paternoster lift, which is still in operation today . Following the Nazi takeover , the ceiling and vault paintings inside the building were destroyed.
The building suffered its greatest damage during the air raids of World War II . In 1943, the roof truss and the top story of the tower were gutted by fire after a bomb hit, although the gable walls survived the attack relatively unscathed. Reconstruction began in 1951. Instead of a faithful restoration of the original structure, a simplified reconstruction was chosen. Smaller turrets were removed, the roof was made smooth, and the three gables facing the castle square were not rebuilt. The town hall tower received a simple gable roof, and the topping-out ceremony was celebrated on September 19, 1952.[4]
The city administration took advantage of the war damage to extend the town hall further south. This extension was inaugurated on January 5, 1956. The new town hall soon reached its capacity limits, leading to renewed debate about expansions in the 1960s. Plans included a council chamber on stilts, to be built in the post-war modernist style . A high-rise town hall on the Old Market Square was also under discussion. In the 1970s, the town hall's status as a historical monument was first debated.
With the municipal reorganization in North Rhine-Westphalia , the city of Duisburg gained additional inhabitants in 1975. The council, which had grown to 83 members, had become too large for the council chamber and moved its meetings to the Mercator Hall . It wasn't until 1980, after renovations, that the council members were able to return to the town hall on Burgplatz. The town hall had also undergone its first restoration in the 1970s. Today, the city administration is spread across numerous buildings throughout Duisburg, including the city hall near the municipal theater. The mayor , his deputies, and several other departments are currently located in the town hall.
References
- ↑ "Das Rathausgebäude". Stadtportal Duisburg (in German). Retrieved 2026-05-13.
- ↑ Joseph Milz: Rathaus Duisburg. Gestalt und Geschichte. Walter Braun Verlag, Duisburg 1996, ISBN 978-3-87096-090-2. S. 10 f.
- ↑ Joseph Milz: 100 Jahre Duisburger Rathaus. In: Duisburger Jahrbuch 2002. Mercator-Verlag, Duisburg 2002, ISBN 3-87463-326-8. S. 79.
- ↑ Joseph Milz: Rathaus Duisburg. Gestalt und Geschichte. Walter Braun Verlag, Duisburg 1996, ISBN 978-3-87096-090-2. S. 23 f.
External links
Media related to Rathaus am Burgplatz at Wikimedia Commons