Etikettarkiv: Elliot

Architect, no link

Kvarteren Hejderidaren, Dahlins äng, Plantaget, Skonaren, Fregatten, Barken

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Episodes 274 to 278 descend from district Olivedal to district Masthugget – or is it all Olivedal? Who knows!

Episode 274: kv Hejderidaren

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 11 July 2022

Gustaf Elliot seems to have been very prolific in the development along Linnégatan. Does anyone know anything more about him? He must have been inventive to build tall houses straddling equally tall hills. Fredberg relates that the rock slopes produced were far from stable and that a rock fall at Nordhemsgatan destroyed a house below it. They should have called Bergab for professional support! The almost level Prinsgatan seems to have been a more posh street, where the houses were designed by Stenfelt instead. And of course, the western side of the block, below the steep hill, was razed in the 1960s and replaced with modern housing estates. At least the ones on this side of Vegagatan are cheerfully clad with yellow brick.

Episode 275: kv Dahlins äng, kv Plantaget

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 15 July 2022

On the zoning map from 1891 you can see all the houses and sheds that belonged to the Dahlin property, scattered at the site of this block below the north end of the Nordhem Hill. They were replaced with landshövdingehus in the late 1800s and to the east with Stenfelt’s turreted stone highrises in 1907. In 1981, the landshövdingehus had to go too – to be replaced with sections from dismantled houses in the suburbs! Yes, the city had built too many housing estates in the 1970s, before the heavy industries foundered and there were no incoming workers to fill the new units. So they had the brilliant, and very circular, idea to reuse the material when continuing to upscale the inner city.

The Viktoria House is touted as the first stone house built in Olivedal. The current zoning plan has cleared the way for the property to be divided, possibly meaning that new developments are afoot…

Episode 276: kv Skonaren

District: Olivedal (formerly Masthugget)

Photo date: 24 July 2022

Olivedal, Masthugget, Linnéstaden, Långgatorna, Stigberget… This area of the city has been and still is assigned to one or more of these official or colloquial districts. Official districts and subdistricts were completely overhauled in the 1980s, to reflect demands on social services like schools and care. The ordnance survey also saw the need for updating at that time. In this project, I try to follow the lines according to current ”primary areas”, which is why this block from district Masthugget is lumped in with the old district Olivedal. Confusing? Yes!

Episode 277: kv Fregatten

District: Olivedal (formerly Masthugget)

Photo date: 24 July 2022

The houses along Plantagegatan were designed by A Engström (No 5), J Andersson (7-9) and Ch Jacobsson (11-13). Nordhemsgatan 25 used to be a textile factory but it burned down in 1990 and was replaced by the current building in 1997. Apparently there was a bit of a scandal when the house along Värmlandsgatan was built in 1990. It seems Semrén+Månsson were responsible for it.

Episode 275: kv Barken

District: Olivedal (formerly Masthugget

Photo date: 28 July 2022

Since visiting this block almost four years ago, there have been slight developments. But first a recap: some of the other architects for the older houses in this block were August Krüger and Hjalmar Cornilsen. One narrow new house has now been completed and another one just commenced – and the police house itself is being redeveloped into a ”lifestyle hotel” for Hagabadet!

Kvarteren Bergfästet, Smugglaren, Nordhem, Bergslänten, Djupedalen

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In episodes 269 to 273 we climb up and down the ridiculously hilly terrain in Olivedal.

Episode 269: kv Bergfästet

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 9 July 2022

The terrain in Olivedal is remarkably hilly, with ridges running circa north – south one after the other. On the zoning map from 1891, there are carefully drawn stairs, like the ones we find at Övre Majorsgatan outside the Good-Templars’ door. The first Swedish lodge of the IOGT was founded in 1879 here in Gothenburg. More stairs were planned, but then the motorcar arrived and had to be catered to with broad and smooth streets.

Episode 270: kv Smugglaren

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 9 July 2022

In Olivedal there is a sharp line between the older stone houses to the east and the 1960s houses to the west, up against Masthuggsbergen and Slottsskogen. It was originally a valley of landshövdingehus, often called Vega-town. According to Fredberg, the houses were not as drab and uniform as usual, but in the 1960s they all had to go to make way for progress in the form of concrete. Much-needed mod cons, yes, but it’s not a very interesting cityscape.

Episode 271: kv Nordhem

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 9 July 2022

The Nordhem School must have been really difficult to build, at the top of a hill with steep sides all around. The poor horses, having to lug all the brick and granite up the cobbled streets!

Episode 272: kv Bergslänten

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 11 July 2022

The Linnea Church is also a charity and an outreach for troubled teenagers, addicts and homeless people.

Episode 273: kv Djupedalen

District: Olivedal

Photo date: 12 July 2022

Foundations were obviously much better here than further south along Linnégatan, as the 1900-houses still remain. So we can imagine what the whole strip from Järntorget to Slottsskogen must have looked like when it was new, and with a bridle path running in the middle for posh people to ride up and down and cause copious amounts of dust to rise. Even the back street looks grand, compared to modern houses! (Here is a picture of what the area looked like even earlier.)

Kvarteren Rysåsen, Skansen, Batteriet, Kastellanen, Vaktposten, Murbräckan

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Episodes 255 to 259 explore the northern part of sub-district Kommendantsängen.

Episode 255: kv Rysåsen, kv Skansen

District: Kommendantsängen (part of district Olivedal)

Photo date: 25 May 2022

This block contains much architectural history, from the dull late-1960s tenement to the delightful 1920s Classicism to elaborate 1890s woodwork (designed by O W Nilsson). But Fredberg describes an earlier, long-forgotten vista: that of itinerant Italians living in hovels next to rowdy rogues in huts clambering up the hill towards the fortress. His descriptions aren’t dissimilar from the camps of Romanian beggars that one can find all over the city nowadays. Even the racism and classism are the same.

Episode 256: kv Batteriet

District: Kommendantsängen (part of district Olivedal)

Photo date: 25 May 2022

The plaster and iron-work in the western, circa-1900 half of this block contrasts with the more sober red brick facades of the 1930s and 1980s in the eastern half. Towards Skanstorget, the 1930s houses were designed by G Jacobsson and D Persson, and contained a cinema that was turned into a theatre dedicated to dance. I haven’t been able to find any info on the nice decorations on the 1980s house, but a three-room apartment there went for just over 5 and a half million a few months ago. That’s cheap!

Episode 257: kv Kastellanen

District: Kommendantsängen (part of district Olivedal)

Photo date: 29 May 2022

The Olof Asklund Steam Bakery apparently was a runaway success, rapidly expanding and needing bigger and bigger premises. When this dedicated house in The Castellan was built in 1901, it employed 100 people and a promotional picture shows five tall chimneys belching black smoke over the neighbourhood. Twenty years later there were 200 employees and in the 1960s the company merged with another bread producer and moved to big industrial premises in Högsbo, under the new brand name Pååls, now Pågen. The street where the current factory stands is named after Olof Asklund.

Episode 258: kv Vaktposten

District: Kommendantsängen (part of district Olivedal)

Photo date: 27 May 2022

Hans Hedlund’s house from 1899 was built by ”SJ:s Änke- och pupillkassa”, a rather nice name. And a nice house, well designed and robustly built – unlike many of the houses built today which need refurbishment immediately the scaffolding has been taken down. Ever since I walked around this block I’ve meant to visit the Purrfect Cat Café but it hasn’t happened yet.

Episode 259: kv Murbräckan

District: Kommendantsängen (part of district Olivedal)

Photo date: 27 May 2022

At Linnégatan 48 the entire facade is clad with limestone, a rather exotic rock in Gothenburg. Ten years later, fashion had swung to local materials and granite became de rigueur for decorations. There are also many other types of rock in Gothenburg facades; here is a geological guide to them!

Kvarteren Luntantu, Carolus Rex, Arsenalen, Kasernen, Boktryckeriet, Fiskaren, Fiskhallen

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Episodes 80 to 84 explore Kungshöjd with its military history, both hidden and erased. Various styles are presented: national romanticism, 1920s classicism, brutalism and 18th century masonry.

Episode 80: kv Luntantu

District: Inom Vallgraven, from Ekelundsgatan to the river

Photo date: 20 August 2020

After the artillery garrison moved out to Kviberg in 1895, the top of the hill here was open for exploitation. Most of the houses were built around 1910, and so it was with this block too. The buildings were partly residential, partly businesses and workshops. Today, almost all of them are converted to housing associations. The house at Hvitfeldtsgatan 14 was built and possibly designed by A Westerlind in 1903. Hjalmar Zetterström designed the corner house at Kungsgatan-Luntantugatan which was built in 1908. When I passed it today I noticed the carpet seller who has resided there for maybe 50 years is gone, it’s just an ordinary interior design shop now.

Episode 81: kv Carolus Rex

District: Inom Vallgraven, from Ekelundsgatan to the river

Photo date: 20 August 2020

The inn Luntantu was situated at the corner house Kungsgatan 7, whatever the name might have meant. On the page where Fredberg discusses this, there is also a picture of the old optical telegraph on Otterhällan. I guess the inhabitants of Ankh-Morpork would call it ”clacks”. Kungsgatan 7 once housed a cinema — and today one of the tenants in the old Gårda Textiles shop is the regional film board!

The houses along Hvitfeldtsgatan were designed by Nils Olsson and Sten Branzell. Gudrun Lönnroth has much more to say about the terraced houses here. As for the bastion, it is again open to sightseeing tours, I passed one group today about to enter the old gunpowder room.

Episode 82: kv Arsenalen

District: Inom Vallgraven, from Ekelundsgatan to the river

Photo date: 20 August 2020

When seen from afar, this block looks a bit like a castle or a fortress, which is the effect Eugen Thorburn, the main architect, strived for. The individual buildings were then designed by architects like Hans Hedlund, Arvid Bjerke and Gustaf Elliot. The current buildings stand on the site of the old arsenal belonging to the Göta Artillery Regiment whose barracks stood nearby. The old arsenal looked very much like the current buildings on top of the hill, if old pictures are truthful.

Episode 83: kv Kasernen

District: Inom Vallgraven, from Ekelundsgatan to the river

Photo date: 16 August 2020

The chocolate house was built in 1903 and designed by G O Johansson. Today it is of course a housing association. Until the 1970s the whole block consisted of old houses like this, but then the south part was razed to make way for office boxes. The southernmost corner house is curently being rebuilt, possibly as a consequence of the Västlänken railway tunnel which is being constructed right underneath it.

Episode 84: kv Boktryckeriet, kv Fiskaren, kv Fiskhallen

District: Inom Vallgraven, from Ekelundsgatan to the river

Photo date: 16 August 2020

In the mid 1800s there was a printing business here, run by Anders Lindgren. When the old house was razed in the 1970s, the new construction became one of the first assignments for the company I worked for: to inspect the new blasted rockface and design reinforcements to secure it from rockfalls. That is a description of pretty much everything we do as engineering geologists. Here is rock. Here is the cavern/slope/pit we want to excavate for our road/railway/utility/house. What’s the best way to go about it? And here is a completed construction: how do we maintain it safely?

The fish market area used to be bigger. East of the tiny block Fisherman was a little house for the old navigation school, torn down in 1913. Since then it has been an open space with nothing much going on. The Fish Church was designed by Victor von Gegerfelt, but for all its conspicuousness it is surprisingly spare when it comes to decorations. There are no decorations at all inside. In fact there is nothing inside since it is no longer in use. It was listed in 2013 and in 2019 closed indefinitely for extensive refurbishment. Also, again: Västlänken righ underneath…