Former Dortmund hard coal colliery whose listed 1873 Malakowturm over Schacht I and adjacent pithead buildings survive, with a small bergbau museum in the Schacht III machine house.
Zeche Westhausen was a hard coal colliery in the Dortmund district of Bodelschwingh, named after Schloss Westhusen in the neighbouring settlement of Westerfilde. Coal production began in 1872–73. The colliery belonged to the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG) and, though always operating in the shadow of its larger neighbours, developed a significant and architecturally distinguished pithead ensemble over several decades.
The Malakowturm over Schacht I, 27 metres high, was built in 1873 and featured corner turrets containing escape stairs in case of fire, a precaution necessitated by the wooden internal headframe structure. Schacht II was sunk in 1889, reaching a final depth of 592 m in 1891, and was connected underground to the Schacht I workings. The colliery's highest annual output — 998,000 tonnes — was reached in 1939 with 2,373 workers.
A Jugendstil Lohnhalle designed by the architect Paul Knobbe (head of the GBAG building department) was erected around 1906. In 1955 Zeche Westhausen was merged with the Zeche Hansa in Dortmund-Huckarde, and the Westhausen shafts became redundant for direct production. From 1 April 1956 Zeche Hansa took over operation of the Westhausen installation.
The colliery finally closed in 1980. The Malakowturm and the Lohnhalle were listed as Baudenkmale in the Dortmund monument register in 1990. A small mining museum established by the Geschichtsarbeitskreis Westerfilde-Bodelschwingh operates in the Schacht III machine house.
The origins of Zeche Westhausen lie in the early 1870s. The colliery took its name from Schloss Westhusen, a manor in the neighbouring locality of Westerfilde. Production began in 1872–73, the earliest documented output date being 1873.
The colliery was owned by the Gelsenkirchener Bergwerks-AG (GBAG). The Malakowturm over Schacht I was erected in 1873, at the outset of the colliery's productive life. Standing 27 metres high, it was built in the typical manner of the type: a massive masonry tower containing, within its walls, a wooden internal headframe and winding mechanism.
Corner turrets were incorporated to provide escape stairs, a deliberate response to the fire risk inherent in the combination of a wooden internal structure with open lighting, coal dust, and lubricants. Until 1877 production growth was limited; the connection of the colliery to the railway network in that year transformed the operation, and from then output reached close to 120,000 tonnes of coking coal annually. In 1889 Schacht II was sunk; it reached its final depth of 592 m in 1891 and was connected underground to the first-level workings of Schacht I. In the 1920s a steel headframe was installed over the Malakowturm at Schacht I, rising above the top of the masonry tower; this steel frame is no longer present.
The machine house at Schacht I dates from 1883 with later modifications in 1906. The Lohnhalle (pay office) in the late Jugendstil was designed around 1906 by the architect Paul Knobbe, then head of the GBAG building department, and is flanked by low administration wings on either side. An adjacent Waschkaue (washhouse) was architecturally comparable in quality.
Workshops dating from 1905 were accompanied by a ventilator building erected in 1908. The machine house of Schacht III dates from 1922–27 and houses a steam twin winding engine of 1926. The highest annual output in the colliery's history — 998,000 tonnes — was achieved in 1939 with a workforce of 2,373.
Forced labourers were also employed at the colliery during the Second World War, as was common across Ruhr mining. In 1955 Zeche Westhausen was merged with the Zeche Hansa in Dortmund-Huckarde; from this point the Westhausen shafts were no longer used for direct coal production, as the underground working area was accessed from Hansa. From 1 April 1956 the Zeche Hansa formally took over the operation of the Westhausen installation.
The colliery finally closed in 1980. Around 1993 the Waschkaue behind the Lohnhalle was badly damaged in a fire and was subsequently demolished; a supermarket now occupies the former Waschkaue site. The Malakowturm and the Lohnhalle were entered into the Denkmalliste der Stadt Dortmund as Baudenkmale in 1990.
A small mining museum has been established by the Geschichtsarbeitskreis Westerfilde-Bodelschwingh in the Schacht III machine house, where the 1926 steam twin winding engine can be seen alongside scale models and artefacts from the world of mining. The machine house is open to visitors on the first Saturday of each month from April to October and by arrangement for groups.