Fredrik Blom (24 January 1781 – 25 September 1853) was a Swedish officer, architect and professor 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 ...

Life

Fredrik Blom was born in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swed ...

. His father was a compass maker

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

. He began his career as a carpenter, working for the

navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

at the

Karlskrona naval base The Karlskrona naval base ( sv, Karlskrona örlogsbas) is the largest naval base of the Swedish Navy. Located in Blekinge in southern Sweden, the base has close ties with the city of Karlskrona. It has an exceptionally well-sheltered location: a ...

. He was educated by

Johan Törnström Johannes ("Johan") Törnström (born April 17, 1743, in Ekeby, Västmanland; died February 20, 1828 in Karlskrona) was Admiralty sculptor to the Swedish Navy at the Karlskrona naval base. He carved a number of figureheads for naval vessels, whi ...

and his aesthetic talent seems to have been identified early on, probably by his superior

Jonas Lidströmer Jonas Lidströmer (1755–1808) was a Swedish inventor and officer in the Swedish Navy. Lidströmer was born in 1755 at Lagfors bruk, Medelpad, and died 1808 in Stockholm. He was a ''colonel-mecanicus'', head of the mechanical state of the Royal ...

. In 1798 he was relieved from his job as a carpenter and probably started studying architecture at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts the same year. He was taught and influenced by

Louis Jean Desprez Louis Jean Desprez (occasionally but incorrectly ''Jean Louis Desprez'') (May 1743–18 March 1804) was a French painter and architect who worked in Sweden during the last twenty years of his life. Biography Desprez, who was born in Auxerr ...

and

Fredrik Magnus Piper Fredrik Magnus Piper (1746–1824) was a Swedish landscape architect and architect. He introduced the theory and practice of the English landscape garden to Sweden. Among his tangible contributions are the creation of the general plan for the royal ...

. His first independent work was the rather unassuming (and later heavily altered) town hall of

Sölvesborg Sölvesborg (old da, Sølvesborg) is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013. Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred to ...

, completed in 1805. Already by this time, however, he had produced proposals for purely decorative work, much in the style of Fredrik Magnus Piper. After his studies he returned to Karlskrona in 1802 and re-entered military service, as

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to his former benefactor Jonas Lidströmer. Lidströmer was in charge of military construction works and it was in this capacity that Fredrik Blom assisted him. In 1804, he accompanied Baltzar von Platen on an inspection tour of the

Göta Canal The Göta Canal ( sv, Göta kanal) is a Swedish canal constructed in the early 19th century. The canal is long, of which were dug or blasted, with a width varying between and a maximum depth of about .Uno Svedin, Britt Hägerhäll Anianss ...

. He also accompanied

Curt von Stedingk Curt Bogislaus Ludvig Kristoffer von Stedingk (26 October 1746 – 7 January 1837) was a count of the von Stedingk family, and a successful Swedish army officer and diplomat who played a prominent role in Swedish foreign policy for several decade ...

and the Swedish delegation to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

charged with negotiating the

Treaty of Fredrikshamn The Treaty of Fredrikshamn ( sv, Freden i Fredrikshamn; russian: Фридрихсгамский мирный договор), or the Treaty of Hamina ( fi, Haminan rauha), was a peace treaty concluded between Sweden and Imperial Russia on 17 ...

, the peace treaty ending the

Finnish War The Finnish War ( sv, Finska kriget, russian: Финляндская война, fi, Suomen sota) was fought between the Gustavian era, Kingdom of Sweden and the Russian Empire from 21 February 1808 to 17 September 1809 as part of the Napoleonic ...

. In Saint Petersburg he came in contact with the vibrant Neoclassical architectural scene there, and made several watercolours of the city. Back in Sweden, Blom was promoted and continued doing both practical construction works for the military and other architectural commissions. He received prestigious commissions and rose quickly in rank. In 1817, he was made professor at the

. The following years he produced his most prestigious and well-known designs, e.g. Skeppsholmskyrkan church and

Rosendal Palace Rosendal Palace ( sv, Rosendals slott) is a Swedish palace pavilion located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm. It was built between 1823 and 1827 for King Karl XIV Johan, the first Bernadotte King of Sweden. It was intended as an e ...

, both in the capital city,

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

. His military career culminated with his receiving the rank of

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1840.Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
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Selected works

File:Skeppsholmskyrkan i Stockholm.jpg, Skeppsholmskyrkan, Stockholm (1822-1833) File:Rosendals palace May 2012.jpg,

, Stockholm (1823-1827) File:Konstakademin stockholm entre 2008.jpg, Entrance hall of the

, Stockholm (1842-1846) File:Kastellholmen Stockholm.jpg, ''Kastellet'' citadel, Stockholm (1846-1848)

References

Bibliography

External links

* 1781 births 1853 deaths People from Karlskrona Swedish architects Swedish military officers {{Authority control