Garnisonstraße 26 (Solingen)

The Gräfrather Transformatorenturm stands in Solingen-Gräfrath, a district of Solingen in the Regierungsbezirk Düsseldorf. It is a former transformer tower now listed as a monument by the city. The address is Garnisonstraße 26, beneath the western wall of Gräfrath Monastery. The tower was built in 1924 or 1925 by the Bergischen Elektrizitätswerke when Gräfrath first received electricity in 1901. After years in the care of the local heritage society, it passed into private hands in the mid-1990s. The owner, Peter von der Heiden, won the 1999 Denkmalschutzpreis from the Bergischen Geschichtsvereins for its restoration. Originally used for storage, it was later converted into a single residential unit with a sleeping loft. The building sits on a small green plot along Garnisonstraße, designed in the early 20th-century Heimatstil to blend with its surroundings. Its square base rises four metres, topped by a six-metre tower under a pyramid roof. Horizontal cornices divide the walls, and a small connecting structure between the tower and the monastery wall provides access and a bathroom. Inside, a 20.5-square-metre living space occupies the ground floor, with a sleeping platform above and two new windows fitted with glass doors.