Gremberghoven: Railway Settlement, Architecture and Quarry Lake

Gremberghoven can be explored through two very different themes: the history of its listed railway settlement and the waterscape of the “Kiesgrubensee Gremberghoven” nature reserve. Architecture, local history and nature offer different focal points for exploring the neighbourhood.

Nature at Kiesgrubensee

The “Kiesgrubensee Gremberghoven” nature reserve has been protected since 1989 because of its regional importance as a habitat for rare waterbirds, and covers approximately 38 hectares. Around two thirds of the area is taken up by an elongated body of water running north to south. Along its edges are predominantly very steep embankments and berms, as well as species-rich mixed deciduous forest and areas with pioneer tree species. These include birch, goat willow and aspen. A survey recorded 72 bird species; 28 of them have been considered current breeding birds since 2013.

Railway Settlement and Listed Monuments

The original Gremberghoven railway settlement, together with its green space and its multi-storey apartment blocks, detached houses and terraced houses, has been protected as a group of listed buildings since 2003. Designed by architect Martin Kießling, it invites visitors to take a walk through the neighbourhood’s history. A separate route through the garden settlement introduces six distinctive sites and shares their history and significance with visitors interested in industry and architecture.

One specific example of a guided walk was the programme for Open Monument Day 2024: on Saturday, 7 September, a route planned to take two hours and cover two kilometres led to important listed sites in the settlement. These included houses, a sundial and a square. The meeting point was Bahnhofsplatz 2a; the S-Bahn station Steinstraße was listed as the arrival point.

At Langobardenplatz, the sundial stands on the central axis of the circular building. It is considered the only known fixed sundial on a building in Cologne that survived the Second World War undamaged and remains in its original condition to this day. A historic archway on Rather Straße also tells the story of the garden settlement’s layout: it stood on the central axis of a row of houses, was a distinctive feature of the settlement and provided residents with access to the gardens at the rear.

The Church of the Holy Spirit stands in the centre of Gremberghoven. Large windows and an open interior roof define its architecture. In 2005, the Catholic parish made the church available to the Serbian Orthodox Christian community, which adapted the interior design to Orthodox liturgy.

Architecture and Railway History

A prominent landmark visible from far away in Gremberghoven’s industrial areas is the ABC Tower, built in 2003. The office high-rise on Ettore-Bugatti-Straße is 65 metres, or 17 storeys, tall. The open-air museum at Bahnhofplatz offers another glimpse into railway history. Its exhibits include a historic station clock, the old axle of a steam locomotive and the former Gremberghoven station sign. Together with the settlement and its listed buildings, these objects bring local railway history to life in different ways.

When planning your stay, you can weigh up the two local highlights: the nature reserve focuses on water, vegetation and birdlife; the settlement offers a look at architecture and industrial history.

Cologne as a wider travel destination

The wider travel destination of Cologne offers further cultural and natural attractions. Cologne Cathedral is an extraordinary work of human creative genius. The Museum Ludwig has one of Europe’s largest and most important photography collections, featuring works from the 19th and 20th centuries; its permanent collection represents the most important modern movements from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day.

Nature and urban history are also part of the wider travel destination of Cologne: Flora and the Botanical Garden are home to 12,000 cultivated plant species from around the world, in both open-air areas and greenhouses. Cologne’s Roman past and its Jewish history in the Middle Ages have been uncovered at the archaeological excavation site on Rathausplatz. The range of themes thus extends from Gremberghoven’s settlement and railway history to art, gardens and archaeological finds in Cologne.

Discover more destinations: Junkersdorf, Worringen, Köln-Brück, Cologne.

Return to the main travel overview: Cologne.