Seam thick bench

It is considered to be one of the oldest settlements in the Ruhr area: the Flöz Dickebank settlement, created as the Ottilienaue colony, was built in 1868 for the workers at the Alma colliery. The Gelsenkirchen settlement gained national fame through the strong resistance of the residents to the threatened demolition in the early 1970s. From then on, the colony developed into a regional center for citizens' initiatives against the demolition of workers' settlements in the area.

The start of the promotion of the two collieries Rheinelbe and Alma in 1861 and 1871 attracted many immigrants to Gelsenkirchen. The men and their families were initially accommodated by local farmers or in temporary dwellings. The increasing housing shortage forced the mine operators Détillieux, Frères et Cie. eventually to create housing for their workforce themselves. Around 1870 they had the Flöz Dickebank settlement built with one and a half storey colliery houses, initially under the name Ottilienau. In the second construction phase from 1906, both the type of house and the concept of the settlement changed in favor of a more sophisticated design. Under the influence of the garden city movement, the previously uniform settlement pattern was given a more urban character with a market square and two-story corner buildings with courtyards.

In 1974, the city administration and Rheinisch-Westfälische Wohnstätte AG decided to demolish the settlement in order to erect three to twelve storey buildings. After two years of protests by the residents, the renovation was finally announced and implemented from 1979. There was a change of mood in the public consciousness and in the professional world: Initiatives that successfully defended their "living area with a special social structure" were formed more and more frequently. As early as 1976, the "Congress for the Preservation of Workers' Settlements" took place at Flöz Dickebank. The settlement has been a listed building since 2008.