St. Joseph, Roman Catholic church in Ostmannturmviertel district, Bielefeld, Germany.
St. Joseph is a Roman Catholic parish church at August-Bebel-Straße 7 in Bielefeld's Ostmannturmviertel, built from 1908 to designs by Cologne architect Carl Moritz in a neo-Romanesque style with Gothic and Art Nouveau elements. The tall square tower of rough light-grey stone ends in a steep gable with three round-arched louvered openings and five narrow slits; a clock with Roman numerals sits on the shaft. Below, a carved stone panel shows a cross between two standing figures above the round-arched entrance framed in smooth yellow stone.
St. Joseph was built from 1908 for Bielefeld's growing Catholic factory-worker population; the Jodokuskirche had served all 4,600 Catholics in 1890. Carl Moritz designed the church, the foundation stone was laid on 8 November 1908, and services began on 20 March 1910. Bishop Heinrich Haehling von Lanzenauer consecrated it on 11 October 1915. A bombing on 30 September 1944 destroyed the church and interior, leaving only the tower and its four bells; the rebuilt church was blessed on 3 May 1953.
The parish patron is Saint Joseph, chosen because the parish was a workers' parish and he is the patron of workers. The Josephskirchenchor, a men's choir, was founded in 1901 as the first group of the future parish. Since 1991 the former crypt has served as the Augustinussaal for celebrations and meetings.
The church is easily accessible via August-Bebel-Straße in the heart of the neighborhood and can be explored on foot. Visitors should know that regular services take place and the building welcomes worshippers from different language communities.
The 1957 Klais organ, opus 1126, is one of the last built by the Bonn firm with electrically controlled cone or pouch chests. It was restored in 2009 by Friedrich Kampherm Orgelbau of Verl. Its predecessor, installed at Easter 1914 with 32 stops and 1,886 sounding pipes, was destroyed in the 1944 bombing.
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