Hopel

During the growth period of the mines, there is a need for good housing for the miners. The mine management wants to have the staff at their fingertips, so that in case of an emergency the staff is immediately on site.
This concentration also strengthens the social control of the church. For this, the workers are given spacious housing with a vegetable garden for their own use. The 'Garden Village', a concept originating from the United Kingdom, serves as an example.
Entirely in the style of that time, light, air and space for the workers are thought of. Something that the miners lack in the heavy underground work. In the case of Hovel, a so-called 'Techniker' from Germany is recruited, Mr Albert Reichpietsch, also referred to as 'Maurer' or 'Architekt'.
Between 1906 and 1910, eleven houses were built in a sober Art Nouveau style on the basis of one of his many designs. The remaining houses of the total forty-seven houses are reconstructed on the basis of these eleven.
He designs even more plans, which are more detailed, but not implemented. In the design of the Hopel, also called the 'white Colony', an open court was central, surrounded by the houses.
The entire village consisted of only four streets: Kanariestraat, Lijsterstraat, Meesstraat and Merelstraat and two cross-connecting streets. The current forty-six houses are characterized by their uniformity to the outside, although there are about eleven different versions.
The look is fresh: red Tuile du Nord roof tiles with dark green buoy edges and here and there a wooden cross connection. In addition to the pointed facades, there are also bell facades. As decoration on the roofs a piron or pirankel, a spherical turret that also occurs elsewhere, such as in Beersdal.
All houses are painted white, the fifty to one hundred centimeters high skirting boards are cemented and covered with black tar, creating a strong contrast. Another fun fact: the Dutch drama film 'Antonia' (1995) starring Willeke van Ammelrooy was partially shot here.

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