Etikettarkiv: Johnsson

Sculptor, https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Johnsson

Kvarteren Ulriksdal, Hörningsholm, Tullgarn, Drottningholm, Sparreholm, Gripsholm, Nääs, Visingsborg

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Episodes 176 to 180 enter the area of the 1923 Anniversary Exhibition and Lilienberg-land.

Episode 176: kv Ulriksdal

District: Lorensberg

Photo date: 13 June 2021

No architectural historian has devoted time and grants to this area yet so there is not much to add to the narration. The architects for this block and Drottningholm are given as Ernst Torulf, Hjalmar Zetterström, Tor Zetterström, Karl M Bengtsson, Arvid Bjerke, Ragnar Ossian Swensson, Nils Olsson and Erik Holmdal.

Episode 177: kv Hörningsholm, kv Tullgarn

District: Lorensberg

Photo date: 6 June 2021

In the 1980s my mother studied art history at university and she wrote a paper on the City Theatre. I can’t remember much of it because at that time I was not at all interested in architecture or local history – so boring! Then suddenly, overnight almost, I became fascinated by both subjects. Maybe it’s an age thing.

Soon after this episode was completed, the old girls’ school and adjoining car park were razed and something else will be put up there. The zoning document suggests more performing arts space, and an entrance to the new train station at Korsvägen. Something for a later Intermission…

Episode 178: kv Drottningholm

District: Lorensberg

Photo date: 13 June 2021

This block was only half-built when my grandmother passed it on her way to school, or to the family shop at Kungsportsplatsen. The south end of the block abutted the 1923 exhibition area.

Episode 179: kv Sparreholm, kv Gripsholm

District: Vasastaden (formerly Lorensberg)

Photo date: 20 and 22 June 2021

And now we enter the area where the city decided to hold its 300th anniversary exhibition, two years late in 1923. Johanneberg was built in the 1700s and had until recently been a working farm with big gardens and greenhouses but its time was up – and now the last vestiges of the grounds have been excavated away for a new train station. At least this part of Västlänken is still being built, unlike the middle station at Haga.

On the hill was the historical part of the exhibition, with wooden halls built for archeology, design, sports, crematoria (sic), crafts and victualling history, and lots of restaurants. In the middle was a big plaza topped by a strange memorial building. On this site now stands the 1984 part of the university building, and the university library stands on the former main restaurant. The original part of the library building was designed by Ärland Noreen in 1939 but it wasn’t built until 1951. The Coordinator bureau designed the 1982 extension. The yellow high-rise was designed by Jaan Allpere and Claes Melin. For the newest extension to the university building, designed by the KUB bureau, a new zoning plan was drawn up where you can read some of the text I wrote about the rock slopes in the area.

Episode 180: kv Nääs, kv Visingsborg

District: Lorensberg

Photo date: 20 June 2021

With Nääs and Visingsborg we enter the Lorensberg villa area. Albert Lilienberg planned it in 1913 and it was realised by the up and coming set of architects that put their mark on Gothenburg in this and the next couple of decades. The houses were built for the poshest members of the bourgeoisie, and certainly not for plebes and commoners.

Axel Carlander was a very big man in Gothenburg at the time. He made lots of money but also worked tirelessly for the public good. Apart from this National Romanticist gem, he has left his name on a hospital overlooking the funfair Liseberg. The lodge in Nääs is still active and even has a well-designed web page.

Östra Nordstaden, längs Älvstranden, broar längs Hamnkanalen

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Episodes 22 to 24 mostly contain modern buildings and structures. The city was subject to ”total sanitation” in the 1960s and 1970s, when the politicians and civil servants decreed that old was bad, everything older than 30 years shold be razed and modern concrete boxes be put up instead. The city of my childhood consisted in large parts of demolition sites.

Episode 22: Östra Nordstaden

District: Östra Nordstaden

Photo date: 5 and 18 April 2020

In 1972 this business and shopping precinct was opened. The building work had destroyed every old house except a couple in the extreme southeast corner, and dug up all the archaological remains like the old bastion and sections of moat that once stood here. All gone.

Until 1938, one of the run-down streets held Gothenburg’s only Catholic church, St Joseph. That year, the new church next to Heden was opened. The rest of the area was mostly given over to warehouses, after the emigrant rush was over. Of the ten blocks named in 1923, only five remain today: Hövågen, Klädpressaren, Köpmannen, Drottningtorget and Kronobageriet.

The city before the mid-1960s looks completely different from the city of the mid-noughties. And that city looks completely different from the one today, because of all the skyscrapers that have mushroomed in the last couple of years.

Episode 23: Lilla Bommen, Nya Operan, kv Magasinet, kv Packhuset

District: Östra and Västra Nordstaden

Photo date: 18 April and 27 June 2020

The water-front has been completely transformed several times. In the 1980s, the old warehouses were torn down and our first skyscraper erected instead. Compared to the ones sprouting today, it is quite small… Ralph Erskine designed it for Skanska. Due to its colours, and because it once held offices for the see (”stift”) it was quickly dubbed Läppstiftet (”lipstick”).

Some ten years later, a new opera house was built on the ruins of the old prison, itself built on the ruins of the bastion St Erik. The public could contribute funding and in return got a token signed by the city council at the time. My grandmother sent in some money in the name of her family’s old shop and we still have that piece of paper.

Further along are some remnants of the once bustling harbour. A maritime museum still lines the quay, which is in need of maintenance and climate change security adjustments. And of course, the ”new” customs house has ironically been turned into a casino. (The newest customs office moved to Östra Nordstaden when it was built, along with all the banks.)

Episode 24: broar längs Stora Hamnkanalen

District: Västra and Östra Nordstaden

Photo date: 17 November 2019 to 7 July 2020

The city was originally laid out with the help of Dutch engineers, which meant canals and bridges. All the bridges have been rebuilt at least once and all but one of the canals have been filled in. Before the Lock was built in 1873, there was also a water-mill where the Paupers’ Creek enters the canal system, just inside the old city wall. Until a few years ago, I had no idea about this.