Protected village view Leenhof

When engineer Henri Sarolea returned from the Dutch East Indies in 1886, he realised that the time was ripe to open up South Limburg with a railway line between Sittard and Herzogenrath via Heerlen.
On his way he finds the brothers Carl and Friedrich Honigmann from Aachen, who have bought concessions to mine coal in this area. Their collaboration lays the foundation for the South Limburg mining industry that will change the region forever.
From 1900 onwards, both the private mines and the State mines developed at a rapid pace and soon South Limburg could no longer provide sufficient labour.
The result is an increase in workers from all over the world, which is causing the population numbers in the old mining villages to rise explosively. Large housing projects are started to house the miner families, the well-known miners' colonies.
Usually they rise at some distance from the existing village centers. Not only because the land there is cheaper, but also because the influential church initially has little use for the foreign miners.

The so-called Oranje-Nassau mines of the Honigmann brothers are doing well. In 1904, five years after the O.-N. I mine in Heerlen opened its doors, is the O.-N. II mine at Schaesberg ready to go into production.
The O.-N. mines build miners' colonies in Heerlen and Schaesberg. Miners' colony Leenhof was established in phases between 1905 and 1918. In phases I to IV, the houses will still be built in blocks on a rectilinear street pattern.
However, when 'Woninggroep Schaesberg' was built south of the railway line between 1914 and 1918, a cosy village was created with a wide variety of housing types, grouped on a playful street pattern with a 'cart wheel' as the centre.

What all homes in Leenhof have in common is their special architecture. The frequently used contrast between accents in brick and plaster is particularly striking.
The red tiled roofs with diamond patterns laid in blue tiles also immediately catch the eye. Today we call this unique architectural style the 'Lorraine style'.

After the mine closures in the 70s, the houses came into private hands. The red and blue roof tiles have recently had to make way for concrete tiles. Many of the tall chimneys that adorned the roofs are being demolished.
Over time, the uniformity disappears because everyone adds something to their home and garden according to their own taste and budget. Because the houses are small, the necessary annexes and outbuildings are also being built on the plots.
Nevertheless, thanks to the cooperation of the municipality, some original elements have returned here and there. It concerns things like window frames, buoy edges and the characteristic tiled roofs.
All in all, Leenhof remains a recognizable and special piece of mining history that every architecture lover should experience. No less special are the supervisors, engineers and miners' houses in the 't Eikske neighborhood, close to the location of the disappeared O.-N. II mining seat.

Tourist Board South Limburg (Visit Zuid-Limburg)