The furnishings of the Gernheim workers' apartments reflect this working situation: each apartment had a so-called ‘captive room’ without windows, which was intended to make it easier for workers to sleep during the day after a long night shift. The apartments offered a number of advantages for the residents at that time: in the early days, for example, they could even live there rent-free. A small garden plot and small stables offered the possibility of partial self-sufficiency. Vegetables were stored in the storage vaults, which are still preserved today.

The rows of workers' houses preserved in Gernheim today are among the oldest surviving buildings of this type in Westphalia.