Workers' Housing Estate on Górnicza Street in Siemianowice Śląskie

The workers' colony on Górnicza Street in Siemianowice Śląskie, popularly known as Bergmonka, was built around 1908 for the employees of the Siemianowice Coal Mine. The four brick multi-family houses at numbers 6-9 are one of the few surviving company housing estates in the town.

An estate for miners

When the colony was built, the mine consisted of two works: Laurahütte, with the Ficinus and Knoff shafts, and Richter. The houses at numbers 3, 4 and 5 are older and date from the 1880s. In 1937 the colony, together with the works, came under the management of the Mining and Metallurgical Community of Interests; during the Second World War it was run by the Hermann Göring AG concern, and after the war the works were nationalised. Its liquidation began in 1993.

Brick and the layout of the buildings

The buildings are of brick, unplastered, in a style of simple brick historicism. They have two storeys, a basement and an attic, and hipped roofs covered with tiles. Houses no. 6 and 8 have similar fronts with projecting bays topped by triangular gables and brick pilasters, house no. 9 is smaller and has a dormer, and house no. 7 has a roof with dormer windows. In front of the houses there were gardens, and at the back farmyards with pigsties. The greatest value of the complex is the preserved layout of the residential houses and outbuildings.

Today

The complex was entered in the heritage register in 1995. The houses are still residential and are managed by a housing cooperative, so they are viewed from the street. In the 1970s new blocks of flats were built around them.

Practical information

• Address: ulica Górnicza 6-9, Siemianowice Śląskie.
• The estate is inhabited, and the courtyards are not intended for visitors.
• The nearest sight, about 3 km away, is Silesian Park.