ERIH-Ankerpunkt TextilWerk Bocholt

History

The Bocholt textile mill consists of two sites located to the left and right of the river Aa within sight of each other: the replica of a typical weaving mill and the historic Herding spinning mill. The representative brick building from 1907 was renovated for use as a museum and opened in 2011.

Textile city Bocholt

Cotton spinning and weaving has a long tradition in Bocholt. For more than 450 years, fibre to be imported from abroad has shaped the economic life of Bocholt and the whole region. Especially between 1870 and World War I, the industry boomed: Bocholt had up to 80 textile companies, employing as many as 10,000 people.

In the midst of the structural crisis, the LWL-Landschaftsverband decided in 1984 to establish a textile museum. As a historic building was not available at the time, it was initially decided to rebuild a typical turn-of-the-century weaving mill. In 1989, the opening was celebrated on the Aa.

In 2004, the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe bought the four-storey brick building of the Herding spinning mill as part of the textile museum. This was achieved with financial support from the state, the district of Borken, the city of Bocholt and the Stadtsparkasse Bocholt. The renovation started in 2009 with funds from an economic stimulus package. Since the opening of the spinning mill in September 2011, the textile museum and its two locations have been operating under the name "TextilWerk Bocholt".

History of "Spinn-Web Herding"

The Herding spinning and weaving mill is a typical example of the boom in the textile industry in Bocholt: a manual weaving mill was once the core of one of the largest textile companies in the town, founded in 1870 by Heinrich Schüring and his brother-in-law Max Herding.

When it became worthwhile to build up its own spinning capacity in the years of high yarn prices after 1900, Max Herding junior decided to build a spinning mill next to the existing weaving mill. He chose the architectural firm Sequin & Knobel in Rüti near Zurich.

The 1907 façade of the four-storey building with its representative water tower pointed towards the city centre and announced the new emerging business.

With almost 600 looms and 23,600 spindles, the "Spinnweb" Herding was long one of the largest textile companies in Bocholt.

In 1943, an air raid destroyed the part on the street side with the water tower. Reconstruction took place in 1949/50 in simple forms and without the tower.

The crisis began in the early 1960s. As a spinning and weaving mill for worsted yarn, production could be maintained in reduced proportions under new owners until 1973. Then all the halls were vacated, the machinery sold and demolished to rent out the space as storage.

Traces of work and modern use

The conversion into a museum and cultural forum took place in 2004 under the direction of the renowned Stuttgart-based architectural firm Atelier Brückner. The aim was to clearly show the traces of work and the 100-year history of the building. On all four floors, a "dialogue" develops between the current use and the historical stock: peeling coats of paint and worn concrete floors have been deliberately left behind and contrast with modern interventions, notably the red steel staircase installed in the 20-metre-high rope nave, and bright cubes for retail, service and gastronomy areas on the roof.

The new bistro with roof terrace is literally a highlight of the renovation. At night, the glowing glass cube can be seen from afar. From an airy height, visitors can enjoy breathtaking views of the entire city. Steel bars in front of the glass façade hint at textile structures; shed roofs as overhead lights are a citation of the factory architecture of the immediate area.

(Source: lwl.org/industrial-museum/standorte/textilwerk-bocholt)