schönherr.fabrik

The Schönherrfabrik was once Chemnitz’s second-largest industrial site. Situated on Schönherrstraße between Küchwaldpark and the River Chemnitz, it remains a vibrant place to this day. Manufacturing businesses, shops, art and restaurants share a space of over 80,000 square metres. Visitors can experience a colourful blend of tradition and modernity.

Over the past 20 years, ten listed factory buildings at this historic site have been converted and refurbished in several phases. As a result, 130 commercial tenants with over 1,000 employees have set up business here to date.

Louis Ferdinand Schönherr was born in February 1817 in Plauen, in the Vogtland region. He grew up in a large family and trained as a weaver. In 1829, he began working in Chemnitz as an apprentice at the Haubold machine factory. His thirst for knowledge took the 16-year-old to Dresden in 1833. His brothers paid for him to undertake a polytechnic education there. Soon, the young Schönherr began tinkering with devices designed to make the laborious and time-consuming process of hand-weaving easier. Together with his brother Wilhelm, he worked on innovations in his own workshop in Niederschlema. To study developments in this field, he undertook a placement in England. He gained experience and knowledge in the textile centres of Leeds and Manchester. On his return, he worked with his brother Wilhelm on the design of a new mechanical loom for cloth production.

In the same year, the 23-year-old married his great love, Christiane. During their happy marriage, they had nine children – seven boys and two girls. In the 1840s, Schönherr worked for a time at the Erla ironworks near Schwarzenberg. However, he was drawn back to Chemnitz. It was here that, in 1851, he founded his first company, which manufactured the looms he had developed. Schönherr’s customers were mainly German manufacturers, who now finally had an alternative to the expensive British imported looms.

Three years later, Schönherr moved into a building on the site that now bears his name. This production facility had its origins as far back as 1799, under the direction of Chemnitz merchants who, following the English model, established one of the first German spinning mills. The mechanical engineering workshop founded at this site by Karl Gottlieb Haubold as early as 1825 gave rise to the Saxon Mechanical Engineering Company in 1836. However, this first Saxon public limited company went bankrupt in 1852 and was wound up the following year.

In 1854, the loom manufacturers Schönherr and Seidler leased the factory premises. Business was thriving for Louis Ferdinand Schönherr, who became the sole owner of the loom factory in 1856. So much so that he purchased the entire site in 1862. He evicted all tenants, demolished buildings and erected new ones according to his own designs. He also had wide access roads built leading to the site. Business flourished. The proceeds were used, amongst other things, to create a stately park opposite the factory grounds and to build the Schönherr villas on Salzstraße.

In 1880, Louis Schönherr was 63 years old and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sächsische Webstuhl AG. In the same year, he retired from business life. The manufacturer, regarded as the inventor of the German loom, died in 1911 at the age of 93.

In the years that followed, construction and renovation work continued on the site, including, for example, a clock tower in front of the main building, a spacious exhibition hall for looms, a new smithy, a packing department and a joinery workshop. The founder’s son, Paul Schönherr, continued his father’s business in the same spirit. Unlike many other firms in Chemnitz, the company weathered the Great Depression relatively well. The firm brought innovations to market, such as the double carpet looms introduced in 1932. As a result, it became the second-largest employer in Chemnitz, after Hartmann-Werke.

During the Second World War, production was partly switched to military equipment. Towards the end of the war, Allied bombers destroyed parts of the plant and severely damaged others. The Soviet command had what remained intact dismantled and transported eastwards as reparations. The company had to start again from scratch. Initially, it repaired machinery from other destroyed factories in Chemnitz. In 1951, the Schönherr family was expropriated, and the company was given a new name: VEB Webstuhlbau. In the late 1970s, the company was incorporated into the VEB Kombinat Textima. There were now 1,700 people working in loom manufacturing. In 1980, the 1,000th double carpet loom was delivered.

Following German reunification, the Treuhandanstalt took over VEB Webstuhlbau and sold it to a German-Swiss group of companies. Of the 1,700 employees, 600 were made redundant. However, the venture failed that very same year and the company was returned to the Treuhandanstalt. In 1994, a comprehensive refurbishment began under new ownership and the dedicated managing director, Bärbel Eckert. Guidelines specific to listed buildings were taken into account from the outset, incorporated into the planning and implemented. Building on the legacy of the Schönherr company, Schönherr Textilmaschinenbau GmbH was founded. Numerous other companies have set up shop in the rear section of the site. The venerable, historic front section is home to a wide variety of establishments offering services, art and culture, catering, fitness and training.

All these different aspects are what make the Schönherr Factory what it is today: a vibrant, innovative hub where many people from Chemnitz can work and relax. Louis Ferdinand Schönherr would probably have liked that very much.