Episode 25: kv Bråvalla

District: Stampen

Photo date: 17 November 2019

Gothenburg’s first post office was situated at Gustav Adolf’s Square but got a new splendid house by the river-front in 1873. In 1925, however, new and larger premises were needed and a magnificent Art Deco house was put up on the site of the old poor-house next to the central railway station — an altogether more pleasing sight for new arrivals!

Ernst Torulf designed the building which still proudly displays its heritage, despite having been turned into a hotel. A new tall building was put up in the old courtyard some ten years ago, and it certainly contrasts wildly with the older style.

Episode 26: kv Fyrisvallen and nearby

District: Stampen

Photo date: 12 December 2019, 7 March 2020 and 12 July 2020

Outside the city moat lay fields and further east factories and breweries and small farms. Later came the railway station and this area was a sort of middle-ground with some office buildings, a freight service and a gas station. The station house for the narrow-gauge railway to Skaraborg was moved here in 1932, from a quaint wooden building that stood where the new bridge to Hisingen and the tunnel under Mill-hill now run. The railway was closed in 1967 but a section is still in use as a museum railway. It even has its own tiny tunnel!

Episode 27: Centralstationen

District: Stampen

Photo date: 7 March and 21 July 2020

One of the first bits of railway in Sweden was opened in 1856 and ran from Gothenburg to Jonsered in Partille some 13 km away. Several other railways opened from Gothenburg in the next 50 years: Bergslagsbanan, Boråsbanan, Västkustbanan, Bohusbanan, the narrow-gauge Västgötabanan and Säröbanan. Steam-trains ran all along the river-front to service the loading of ships and Hamnbanan on Hisingen still serves the same purpose. Some were private companies with their own station houses, like Bergslagsbanan, Västgötabanan and Säröbanan, but the state railway company terminated in this central station.

If you read old railway books you soon realise that over a hundred years ago it was debated whether the station should be a terminus or if the lines should be extended through the city somehow, connecting the southern and northern lines. That very decision has now been taken and a massive project is underway to build the tunnel Västlänken. The plan was to open it in 2026 but it is already several years behind schedule and costs are soaring. Our new conservative government are not keen on railways and seem quite willing to cancel it…

Episode 28: kv Nyeport and Drottningtorget

District: Stampen

Photo date: 7 March and 7 July 2020

Outside Hotel Eggers stand two granite pillars. They mark the spot where one of the three city gates stood, in the old city wall. And the street along the west side of the hotel runs more or less along the old moat that was filled in to make way for the station, the hotel and the square. There has been a hotel here since 1859, first in old buildings from 1814 and then in this opulent re-build from 1894, designed by Johan August Westerberg.

The square itself was long fronted by not only the station but also an increasingly decrepit poor-house. Fairs and markets were held here, until the trams and buses took over. Today it is incredibly crowded with public transport!