Bensberg Old Castle

At the end of the 1950s, the desire for a new and functional town hall building grew in Bensberg. The Old Bensberg Castle was chosen as the location. First, an inventory and securing of the existing castle remains were carried out. The building parts dating from before 1850 were included in the planning. These included the 12th-century pentagonal keep, the Engelsturm, the outer wall between them, as well as the former castle portals, a vaulted cellar, and another smaller tower. These elements, together with the old castle wall in their circular arrangement, formed the footprint of the new development.

The integration of the old castle remains and the associated connection between history and present became part of the tender, which was awarded to a design by the architectural firm Gottfried Böhm. A decisive factor was also the Böhm model's departure from the monotony of 1960s architecture.

The jury saw Böhm's design as an artistic answer to the urban planning task. The marketplace concept, along with the counterpoints of the stair tower and small inner courtyard, was highlighted. Inside, the concept of interconnected corridors with attached rooms allowed for a striking orientation, making a central hall unnecessary.

The building initially polarized very strongly. The FAZ saw it as a walk-in sculpture, art historian Jürgen Paul as crystalline frozen Baroque, in which the high-strung visions of Expressionism are resurrected. The Kölner Stadt Anzeiger christened the building the Bensberg Acropolis.

The building also received international attention: The London Times reported in words and pictures about its unusual form, the Hong Kong China Mail about the cement castle, and the Genoese newspaper "Il Nuevo Cittadino" recognized it as Germany's most modern town hall.

On the other hand, Bensberg's mayor Müller-Frank was horrified after the scaffolding was removed and associated the tower with a shot-up minaret. Countless letters of protest to newspapers and council members wished the "loophole monster" to be shot to the moon. The then Federal Minister of the Interior, Paul Lücke - a resident of the town hall - advised his fellow residents to live with the "bureaucrat bunker". In common parlance, the jagged concrete tower soon acquired the name Aapefelse (Monkey Rock).

Around a square sloping to the south, the remains of the castle complex now merge with the town hall building designed by Böhm in exposed concrete. From the outside, the high ring wall with its formerly bricked-up two- and three-arched windows from the early 13th century, which is continued in concrete, is immediately striking. Access to the town hall square is through the area between the two towers.

In the left area of the inner courtyard is the council chamber, whose back wall consists of the remains of the old ring wall, and whose inner courtyard side was designed with floor-to-ceiling glazing. Following the ring shape, the building increases its number of floors up to the stair tower, which, with its sculptural appearance, represents the most striking element of the town hall and at whose foot the main entrance is located.

To the right of the stair tower, the number of floors decreases again, following the courtyard contour, from five to one floor and ends in front of the right of the two towers at the starting point. Merged with this, there is a smaller continuation of the building outside the inner courtyard in the form of a caretaker's apartment and other ancillary rooms.

At the rear of the building complex, behind the right wing, there is a smaller staircase which – like the stair tower – allows for a permanent view outwards when ascending the stairs, thanks to uninterrupted glazing. Unlike in the stair tower, where the glazing is flush with the facade, the windows here – as in the entire rest of the building complex – are set back behind the facade. Also, the glass surfaces – unlike in the stair tower – are designed from right-angled shaped and mounted glass elements. This suggests to the viewer the impression that the glass elements bear the load of the massive concrete elements. The flat roofs are made of folded zinc sheet, and water drainage occurs, among other things, via numerous gargoyles.

The interior of the building is characterized by the aesthetics of exposed concrete, from which all walls and ceilings are made. Within the concrete elements there are various openings and niches. The ceilings in the area of the corridors to the official rooms are clad with light brown, matt wooden panels. All floors and stairs are without exception made of red bricks. In this combination, the building develops an almost sacred atmosphere.

The ground floor, along the length between the council chamber and the stair tower, is separated from the inner courtyard exclusively by full-surface glass elements. This front is equipped with several elements reminiscent of bay windows, which extend up to the second floor.

The stair tower offers a special effect: through the frameless glazing that spirally follows the course of the spiral staircase, the user can experience a permanent view of the Cologne Bay, which improves from floor to floor, while ascending the stairs.

The lighting of the building is also an unchangeable part of the architecture. In the concrete ceiling, distributed over the surface and in the edge area of the stairs, there are small indentations, barely visible when viewed from a sharp angle, equipped with small spherical incandescent lamps. In the area of the corridors to the official rooms, the lighting consists of fluorescent tubes embedded in the wooden ceiling above the doors.

Until the merger of the two former cities of Bergisch Gladbach and Bensberg into one city in 1975, the city administration of Bensberg was located in the town hall. After the municipal reorganization, the city administration was relocated to other buildings in Bergisch Gladbach. Today, the technical department of the city administration is located in the Bensberg Town Hall. Council and committee meetings also take place here. Furthermore, the town hall auditorium and the inner courtyard are used for concerts and various types of events.