Ernst Wilhelm Emanuel Stenhammar (26 March 1859 – 9 March 1927) was a Swedish architect. He was active both as an independent architect and as a teacher and eventually professor of architecture in Stockholm. The main bulk of his designs as an independent architect were made for banks and hospitals.
Biography
Ernst Stenhammar was born and raised in
Stockholm. He was the son of the architect and composer
Per Ulrik Stenhammar (1829-1875) and brother of the composer
Wilhelm Stenhammar
Carl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar (February 7, 1871 – November 20, 1927) was a Swedish composer, conductor and pianist.
Biography
Stenhammar was born in Stockholm and was the brother of architect Ernst Stenhammar. He received his first musical e ...
(1871–1927).
He studied architecture at the
Royal Institute of Technology under
Albert Theodor Gellerstedt between 1877 and 1882. While still a student, he began an apprenticeship at the architectural firm of
Magnus Isæus and also made a study trip to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in 1881. After finishing his studies at the Royal Institute of Technology, he continued to pursue studies in architecture at the
Royal Swedish Academy of Arts
The Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts ( sv, Kungliga Akademien för de fria konsterna), commonly called the Royal Academy, is located in Stockholm, Sweden. An independent organization that promotes the development of painting, sculpture, archite ...
under
Claes Grundström. He finished his studies at the Academy in 1884; in 1883 he made another study trip to
Gotland, to study the
churches of Gotland and the architecture of
Visby
Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...
. He also began to teach at the Academy himself, together with
Agi Lindgren and his friend
Ferdinand Boberg
Gustaf Ferdinand Boberg (11 April 1860 – 7 May 1946) was a Swedish architect.
Biography
Boberg was born in Falun. He became one of the most productive and prominent architects of Stockholm around the turn of the 20th century. Among his most ...
. After leaving the Academy in 1884 he returned to the Royal Institute of Technology as a teacher. He continued to be active as a teacher of architecture until 1905 (in 1990, he was appointed professor of architecture). In parallel, he worked as an independent architect (after an initial period as an assistant to
Isak Gustaf Clason). His professional career as an architect can be said to have started already in 1887.
Ernst Stenhammar has been described as a "somewhat harsh but generous and with a drastic sense of humour".
[ Like his father and brother he was fond of music. He was married with Edla Maria Carolina Anna von Schoultz between 1895 and 1910, and in 1911 married for the second time with actress Anna Flygare-Stenhammar. With his second wife, he had three children.][
]
Work
The first buildings that Ernst Stenhammar designed were residential multi-storeyed buildings, especially on Östermalm
Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous districts in Stockholm. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest housing ...
in Stockholm. Among his first commissions are two large houses in Neo-Renaissance style on Karlaplan
Karlaplan is an open park-plaza area in Östermalm in central Stockholm, Sweden.
History
Lindhagenplanen was a general plan presented with a proposal for street regulation in Stockholm in 1866 by a committee headed by the lawyer and politician ...
square. In 1895 he began to work on Centralpalatset
Centralpalatset is a building at Norrmalm in central Stockholm at the Tegelbacken street. The architect for the building was Ernst Stenhammar and the house was built in 1896 throughout to 1998. Today Centralpalatsen is the housing the Ministry of ...
, a more independently conceived building. It was the first building in Stockholm purely dedicated to offices and stores. The aesthetic emphasis on the building's elements of construction was a novelty and inspired by contemporary American architecture
The architecture of the United States demonstrates a broad variety of architectural styles and built forms over the country's history of over two centuries of independence and former Spanish and British rule.
Architecture in the United States ...
. The building attracted positive criticism at a time when the ideals where shifting away from earlier historicist
Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...
and eclectic ideals to more emphasis on personal expression.[
Stenhammar received another prestigious commission with the design of the Grand Hotel Royal (the backside of the ]Grand Hotel A grand hotel is a large and luxurious hotel, especially one housed in a building with traditional architectural style. It began to flourish in the 1800s in Europe and North America.
Grand Hotel may refer to:
Hotels Africa
* Grande Hotel Beir ...
) in 1909. Also this building had a positive reception, and was praised e.g. by Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg (14 July 1866 – 5 February 1945) was a Swedish architect who is best known for designing Stockholm City Hall.
Biography
Östberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. His parents were Carl Östberg and Erika Kindahl. Between 1884 a ...
. Other prestigious commissions included Villa Foresta on Lidingö
Lidingö, also known in its definite form ''Lidingön'' and as ''Lidingölandet'', is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2010, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 31,561. It is ...
(finished 1910) and the department store Myrstedt & Stern (inspired by the Wertheim department store
Wertheim was a large department store chain in pre-World War II Germany. It was founded by Georg Wertheim and operated various stores in Berlin, one in Rostock, one in Stralsund (where it had been founded), and one in Breslau. It was Aryanized ...
in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
and built in 1910). Myrstedt & Stern on Kungsgatan was the first building in Sweden with a building frame made entirely of reinforced concrete. Stenhammar also designed a number of private villas.[
The main bulk of Stenhammar's oeuvre was however bank buildings and hospitals. The first bank building designed by him was a palatial, Neo-Renaissance building in ]Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; South Westrobothnian: ;). fi, Uumaja; sju, Ubmeje; sma, Upmeje; se, Ubmi) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, U ...
in 1893. A bank building in Stockholm designed in 1902 made innovative use of a glass-covered bank hall and was positively reviewed e.g. by Torben Grut. Many of the banks designed by Ernst Stenhammar are characterised by the use of dark bricks and granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
, reminiscent of the contemporary National Romantic style
The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the National Romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is often considered to be a form of Art Nouveau.
The National Romantic style spread ...
. A typical example is the bank designed by Stenhammar in Karlstad. In 1907, Stenhammar received his first commission for the design of a hospital. He would eventually establish himself as an accomplished designer of several hospitals. Stenhammar introduced new and more practical but also more complex plans for hospitals, buildings which at the same time displayed an artistic ambition.[
]
Gallery
File:Harpan 23, 24 & 25.JPG, Building on Karlaplan, Stockholm (1888-1891)
File:Centralpalatset February 2016.jpg, Centralpalatset, Stockholm (1895)
File:Myrstedt 2009a.jpg, Myrstedt & Stern department store, Stockholm (1910)
File:Wermlandsbanken i Karlstad.JPG, Bank in Karlstad (1908)
File:Anstalten Kolmården 01.jpg, Sanatorium in Kolmården (1918)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stenhammar, Ernst
Swedish architects
1859 births
1927 deaths
KTH Royal Institute of Technology alumni