The Matchstick Palace ( sv, Tändstickspalatset) is an office building on

Västra Trädgårdsgatan Västra Trädgårdsgatan is a street at Norrmalm in Stockholm, Sweden. The street stretches from Kungsträdgården to Hamngatan Hamngatan (Swedish: ''Port Street'') is a street in central Stockholm. It goes from Sergels torg down to Nybroplan, ...

in Stockholm, Sweden.

History

It was commissioned by the "Match King"

Ivar Kreuger Ivar Kreuger (; 2 March 1880 – 12 March 1932) was a Swedish civil engineer, financier, entrepreneur and industrialist. In 1908, he co-founded the construction company Kreuger & Toll Byggnads AB, which specialized in new building techniques. B ...

(1880–1932) as the headquarters of the Swedish match company ''Svenska Tändsticks AB''. It was designed by architect

Ivar Tengbom Ivar Justus Tengbom (April 7, 1878 – August 6, 1968) was a Swedish architect and one of the best-known representatives of the Swedish neo-classical architecture of the 1910s and 1920s. Tengbom was born in Vireda in Jönköping County, stu ...

(1878-1968) and built by

Kreuger & Toll Kreuger & Toll was a company founded on May 18, 1908 by two Swedish engineers, Ivar Kreuger and Paul Toll, with Henrik Kreüger working as a consultant and chief engineer. History Early 1908, Ivar and his cousin Henrik Kreüger planned to estab ...

Construction AB 1926-28. The palace remained Swedish Match's office until 1991 and was sold to Telia in 1999, who subsequently sold it to businessman Muhammed Al-Amoundi for SEK 450 million. Swedish Match moved their headquarter back to Tändstickspalatset, to one of the floors, 1 September 2010. The Matchstick Palace served as the headquarters for Swedish Match at the beginning of the 1930s, 1972–1991, and 2010–2015.

Description

Behind the latticework and

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

of the main portico is the horseshoe-shaped inner

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

on which the building is centered. The façades of the ground floor are dressed in marble from

Kolmården Kolmården () is a long and wide densely forested rocky ridge that separates the Swedish provinces of Södermanland and Östergötland, two of the country's main agricultural areas, from each other, and in historic times, along with Tylöskog and ...

and the courtyard is furnished with the sculpture Diana fountain I by sculptor

Carl Milles Carl Milles (; 23 June 1875 – 19 September 1955) was a Swedish sculptor. He was married to artist Olga Milles (née Granner) and brother to Ruth Milles and half-brother to the architect Evert Milles. Carl Milles sculpted the Gustaf Vasa sta ...

(1875–1955). Inside the portico are two flights of stairs leading up to the quarters of the board of directors, where is the circle segment-shaped board meeting room with paintings by expressionist painter Isaac Grünewald (1889–1946). On the opposite side of the courtyard, the first two floors are taken up by the session room. The space between the building and the park was kept void until the 1970s. Ivar_Kreuger_office_Stockholm

Gallery

File:Tandstickspalatset 2008.jpg, Entrance of Matchstick Palace File:Tändstickspalatset 2009c.jpg, Balcony with view over the inner yard. File:Tändstickspalatset 2009a.jpg, Sculpture Diana fountain I
by

. File:Swedish Match Headquarters street view.png, Exterior of Matchstick Palace

References

{{reflist Palaces in Stockholm Office buildings completed in 1931 Ivar Kreuger 1931 establishments in Sweden