Heierstrasse Viersen - historic buildings condemned to destruction by Caritas

Heierstrasse Viersen - historic buildings condemned to destruction by Caritas
Originally uploaded by Viersener

These handsome historic houses have been allowed to fall into disrepair by Viersen council, as a prelude to demolishing them to replace them with a faceless factory-like building which will house a company called Caritas.

The process by which this was allowed to happen was cynical and shameless. None of the political parties were interested in protecting the buildings, despite the fact that citizens were repeatedly assured that the buildings would not be demolished.

Caritas' architects even produced drawing of the projected new building showing the old buildings would be incorporated into the design. However at the end of last year it was suddenly announced, as a fait accompli, that the historic buildings would be ripped down.

In this way the shortsighted cynicism of the council has combined with the shortsighted profit-motive of the Caritas company to destroy the historic fabric of a street whose beauty has been an all-too-rare ornament to Viersen city for the past century. A curse on the lot of them.