Former Gelsenkirchen hard coal colliery whose listed 1922 Doppelbockstrebengerüst over Schacht IV, twin machine houses, and ventilator building survive as the Consol cultural quarter — home to the Consol Theater, Sammlung Werner Thiel, and the Consol-Park
Zeche Consolidation — known locally as 'Consol' — was a hard coal colliery in Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck, established in 1861 by Friedrich Grillo through the consolidation of several coal fields in the Schalker Mark. An exploratory boring had struck a coal seam at 170 m depth in 1854. The first shaft, Gertrud, was begun at the Schalker Markt in 1863 and entered production in 1865 with an initial Malakowturm.
Between 1872 and 1876 Consolidation was the highest-output colliery in the Ruhr. By 1873 around 2,060 workers produced 366,000 tonnes annually; a decade later output approached 700,000 tonnes. Before the First World War the colliery raised 1.95 million tonnes.
From nine shafts sunk between 1863 and 1922 it grew into one of the largest collieries in the Ruhr. The Doppelbockstrebengerüst in Stahlfachwerk over Schacht IV — the canonical Schacht IV of this site — was erected in 1922 to designs by Heinrich von Bonin; the 1963 twin steam winding engine built by Gutehoffnungshütte in the southern machine house is the last of its type made by that firm. Schacht IV received a new concrete headframe in 1958.
In 1968 the colliery passed to the Ruhrkohle AG. Production at Consolidation 3/4/9 was halted on 1 October 1993. The Doppelbockstrebengerüst over Schacht IV — not the concrete frame — along with Schacht 9, Schacht 8, and the machine houses are listed Baudenkmale.
The Schacht IV and IX installation operates today as a cultural venue and park.
The history of Zeche Consolidation begins in the Schalker Mark, where from around 1848 multiple exploratory boreholes were undertaken. In 1854 a coal seam was struck at 170 m depth, and in 1861 Friedrich Grillo instigated the formal consolidation of various Gewerken into the Gewerkschaft des Steinkohlenbergwerks Consolidation — the name itself deriving from the Latin term for the joining of mining fields. In 1863 sinking of the first shaft, named Gertrud, began at the Schalker Markt on the present-day Gewerkenstraße.
Production commenced in 1865; the shaft received a Malakowturm as its initial headframe. The coal proved to be high-quality Fettkohle and Gaskohle, which could be sold extensively through Friedrich Grillo's other industrial enterprises. During the period 1872 to 1876 Consolidation was the most productive colliery in the Ruhr.
Already by 1873 around 2,060 workers were producing approximately 366,000 tonnes per year. Ten years later output had almost doubled to around 700,000 tonnes. Before the First World War the colliery raised 1.95 million tonnes annually.
Between the founding year of 1863 and 1922 nine shafts were sunk, making Consolidation one of the largest collieries in the Ruhr. The colliery had a documented connection to the origins of FC Schalke 04: in 1904 ten young men — several of them apprentices at the colliery — gathered regularly in the streets of Schalke to play football, and the club they subsequently formed became Westfalia Schalke, later FC Schalke 04. The colliery supported the club in 1923 with the construction of the Glückauf-Kampfbahn.
The Doppelbockstrebengerüst in Stahlfachwerk over Schacht IV was erected in 1922 to designs by the Zechenbaumeister Heinrich von Bonin. The southern machine house — a partially rendered clinker building with pilaster articulation — was erected in the same year to von Bonin's design. The northern machine house, a brick building, was designed by the industrial architect Hans Väth in 1937.
In 1958 Schacht IV received a new concrete headframe with externally mounted rope sheaves; this later concrete frame is no longer standing, only the 1922 Doppelbockstrebengerüst survives. In 1963 the last twin steam winding machine built by the Gutehoffnungshütte Sterkrade was installed in the southern machine house; this machine could raise payloads of approximately 12 tonnes at 18 m/sec from the over-1,000-metre-deep shaft. In 1938 a mine fire put Schachtanlage 2/7 temporarily out of service.
In 1942 a section of the Hibernia field was added to the Consolidation 3/4/9 Grubenfeld, with Schacht Hibernia 3 taken as a ventilation shaft. During the Second World War the surface installations were severely damaged; Schacht 5 suffered bomb damage so severe in 1943 that it was abandoned and backfilled; the Aufbereitung and coking works were heavily damaged in 1944. In 1950 the Schacht 8 ventilation installation ceased its air-return function in 1981; the entire Schacht 8 installation was placed under Denkmalschutz and subsequently converted.
After 1964 rationalisation accelerated: the Hibernia-Feld was relinquished in 1964; in 1967 the Schachtanlage 1/6 with its coke works was closed and operations concentrated on Schacht 3/4/9. In 1968 the Mannesmann AG's mining assets — including Consolidation — passed to the newly founded Ruhrkohle AG. The colliery was expanded as a Verbundbergwerk; in 1972 extraction of the residual Flammkohle reserves of the former Zeche Graf Bismarck was begun.
In 1973 a new concrete Förderturm of 95 metres — one of the tallest headframes in Germany at the time — was erected over Schacht 3 with two fully automatic skip hoisting installations. In 1976 the underground fields of the closed Zeche Pluto in Herne were added. In the 1980s the residual fields of Nordstern and Pluto were progressively relinquished.
In 1993 the fördertechnischer Zusammenschluss with Zeche Hugo was effected. Production at Consolidation 3/4/9 was halted on 1 October 1993. The shafts on Consolidation, Unser Fritz, and Pluto were progressively backfilled.
The Schachtanlagen 1/6 and 2/7 were completely demolished in the late 1990s; the concrete headframe over Schacht 3 was dismantled in 1996 by a demolition crane. The Schacht IV Doppelbockstrebengerüst with its two machine houses and the Lüftergebäude are listed Baudenkmale and have been repurposed as cultural venues. One machine house functions as the Consol Theater and the Musikprobenzentrum C4; the other serves for events and art exhibitions and contains the Sammlung Werner Thiel — the large permanent installation assembled by the artist Werner Thiel (1927–2003) from artefacts salvaged from Ruhr collieries.
The light installation Consol Gelb by Professor Günther Dohr, commissioned in 2000, illuminates the headframe over Schacht IX with yellow sodium vapour lamps and red fluorescent tubes each evening. The surrounding land forms the Consol-Park, approximately 17 hectares of landscaped open space between the Bickern-, Bismarck-, Consol-, and Kanalstraße. The site is adjacent to the underground tram station Bergwerk Consolidation on Bogestra line 301.