Berg house

Typical of its timber framed post construction are the green window shutters (Schlagläden in the local dialect), white door lintels and window frames combined with black frame work and white plaster infill, as well as grey-black slate façades and/or rubble stone plinth.

Around 1900, as part of the heritage conservation movement (Heimatschutzbewegung), attempts were made to collect, preserve and promote examples of what was seen as Bergisch architecture.

This was not just based on the rural farmhouse type, which also occurred in the villages in a smaller version, but also typical Bergisch buildings like Schleifkotten ("grinder's cottages"), Hammerkotten ("hammersmith's cottages") or the Bleicherhaus ("bleaching house").

In Bergisch towns, with the exception of the Rhenish parts of the former Duchy of Berg, 2½ to 3½ storey houses built in the period from 1750 to 1850 with features in the Late Baroque/Rococo and Empire styles, heavily dominated local architecture.

Advocates of Bergisch architecture for industrial buildings were Otto Schell and Friedrich Wilhelm Bredt.