21 The so-called „Wasserburg“
When, in the middle of the 19th century, thousands of workers were at work in Ramsbeck, in the „Sauerland California“, according to the report of an eyewitness, breaking stone and building walls everywhere, digging ditches or carpentering buildings and machines, it was not long before the chimneys of steam engines and furnaces were smoking, turbines were turning and stamps were pounding.
These buildings also included the so-called Wasserburg (~ ‘water castle’), which was built in 1854 as a machine shop for the iron foundry (large building, left). The cast-iron machine parts were assembled and stored on the lower floor; the upper floor housed design offices. Because there was not enough space between the iron foundry and the Valme to build the workshop, it was of necessity erected above the stream bed.
Wasserburg 1950
The „water castle“ spans the stream bed with two arches and was built of rough quarry stone masonry. Wide, vertical wall strips and round-arched windows structure the façades. The front side from Valmestraße is additionally decorated in an elaborate manner with stepped facings. A broad gabled roof with bay windows closes off this monumental and sophisticated structure, which has made its industrial function conspicuous in its external appearance.
The „water castle“, which today – like other relics from this period – is a listed building, was still used later as a drawing office or warehouse for the mining company and then converted to residential purposes.