Industrial Ruins
July 24, 2009
I don’t know what makes a few old walls, broken windows and junk in the backyard so fascinating, but the following of those places is huge. I have to admit, I am one of them. In this respect I am lucky, as one jewel is just in walking distance to my place …
backside view
Founded back in 1832 by Wilhelm Spindler, it quickly became the largest laundry in Germany and the outrider talking about “chemical cleaning”.
main building
1922 the company was transformed into a corporation and between 1922 and 1925 Schering AG took over the majority of shares.
After WorldWar II Schering was put under trusteeship in 1946 and split up in 1949. Later, around 1980 up to 4000 employees were working on site.
close up
After the German reunification the company’s name was changed to REWATEX AG and finally taken over by Cologne based firm Larose Hygiene-Service-GmbH. In the mid 1990s it stopped being productive. Today only the ruins are witness of a long history. However, there are plans to revive the huge areal and bring back smaller industries and housing.
I will dig in deeper and start exploring the site in the coming weeks …
Stay tuned …
