The Embassy of Sweden in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, is

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

diplomatic mission A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The Swedish Embassy in Washington, D.C., is one of Sweden's largest diplomatic missions with more than fifty employees. Ambassador since 2023 is

Urban Ahlin Urban Christian Ahlin (; born 13 November 1964) is a Swedish Social Democratic Party politician who was Speaker of the Riksdag from September 2014 to September 2018. He served as a Member of the Riksdag (MP) for the Västra Götaland County Eas ...

. Sweden also has a Consulate General in New York City and in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

and a number of Honorary Consulates General in the United States. Since 2006, the chancery is located in the

House of Sweden House of Sweden is a building in Washington, D.C., in which is located the Embassy of Sweden and the diplomatic missions of the Republic of Iceland and the Principality of Liechtenstein to the United States. The building is located at 2900 K St ...

building on the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

History

Swedish-American relations Swedish Americans ( sv, svenskamerikaner) are Americans of Swedish ancestry. They include the 1.2 million Swedish immigrants during 1865–1915, who formed tight-knit communities, as well as their descendants and more recent immigrants. Today, ...

have a long history stretching back to the 17th century when Sweden in 1638 established the colony of

New Sweden New Sweden ( sv, Nya Sverige) was a Swedish colony along the lower reaches of the Delaware River in what is now the United States from 1638 to 1655, established during the Thirty Years' War when Sweden was a great military power. New Sweden form ...

in the state of

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. In 1782, diplomatic relations were established by Samuel Gustaf Hermelin. Sweden was the first country, in addition to the states that were directly involved in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

(the United Kingdom and France), to recognize the United States in 1783. In 1783 the Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Sweden and the United States was signed. A break in diplomatic relations occurred in 1973 when the then Ambassador

Hubert de Bèsche Hubert Wathier August de Bèsche (7 July 1911 – 11 March 1997) was a Swedish foil and sabre fencer. He competed in three events at the 1936 Summer Olympics. He was also a diplomat and Foreign Service officer. He served as the Swedish Am ...

and his newly elected successor were declared undesirable in the United States as a result of a diplomatic crisis that followed

Olof Palme Sven Olof Joachim Palme (; ; 30 January 1927 – 28 February 1986) was a Swedish politician and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1969 to 1976 and 1982 to 1986. Palme led the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1969 until h ...

's statement about the Hanoi bombings in December 1972. In 1974 the new Swedish Ambassador

Wilhelm Wachtmeister Count Wilhelm Hans Fredrik Wachtmeister (29 April 1923 – 3 February 2012) was a Swedish career diplomat who served as the Swedish Ambassador to the United States for 15 years from 1974 to 1989, eventually becoming the Dean of the Diplomatic Cor ...

took office and held the post until 1989. Wachtmeister was eventually given the title

Dean of the Diplomatic Corps The diplomatic corps (french: corps diplomatique) is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body. The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission (amb ...

(Doyen) as the longest serving Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Other famous diplomats who held the Ambassador post are

Jan Eliasson Jan Kenneth Eliasson (born 17 September 1940) is a Swedish diplomat who was Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations from July 2012 to December 2016. A member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Eliasson served as Minister for Forei ...

Rolf Ekéus Carl Rolf Ekéus (born 7 July 1935 in Kristinehamn, Sweden) is a Swedish diplomat. From 1978 to 1983, he was a representative to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and he has worked on various other disarmament committees and commissions. ...

and

Anders Thunborg Anders Thunborg (1934–December 2004) was a Swedish social democratic politician and diplomat. He served as the defense minister between 1983 and 1985. He was also Swedish ambassador to the United Nations, Moscow, Washington and the Vatican Cit ...

. The former embassy building was located at 2006 N Street, N.W., in a Victorian building at 2249 R Street, N.W., from 1921 to 1971 and in Suite 1200,

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

Six Hundred, 600

New Hampshire Avenue New Hampshire Avenue is a diagonal street in Washington, D.C., beginning at the Kennedy Center and extending northeast for about 5 miles (8 km) and then continuing into Maryland where it is designated Maryland Route 650. New Hampshire Avenue ...

along the banks of the

. The move to the Watergate complex represented a temporary solution to the embassy's space issues. The new premises were rented primarily for five years, pending a decision on the possible construction of a new embassy building on the government-owned plot at Nebraska Avenue, where the residence was located. In May 1987, it was reported that the annual fee for the 2,500 square meters the embassy rented in the Watergate complex was 7,000,000 SEK. At the same time, the embassy were also renting around forty residences in Washington for its staff. When the rent in the Watergate complex became too high, the embassy was moved to a couple of floors at 1501 M Street, N.W. in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. The idea had been for several decades to acquire an own embassy building but the idea had come unstuck because of few suitable sites. In August 2006, the embassy returned to the banks of the Potomac River when the new embassy building, the

, opened on the waterfront in Georgetown. The site was bought by the

National Property Board of Sweden The National Property Board of Sweden ( sv, Statens fastighetsverk, SFV) is a Swedish State administrative authority, organised under the Ministry of Finance. SFV is responsible for managing a portion of the real property assets owned by the Stat ...

from the Swede Kate Novak's husband Alan Novak's development company.

Buildings

Chancery

1923–2006

From 1 December 1913 to 1920, the chancery was located at 2006 N Street N.W. From 1921 to 1922, the chancery was located at 1201 16th Street, N.W. From 1923 to 30 June 1971, the chancery was located at 2249 R Street, N.W. When the villa at 3900 Nebraska Avenue was purchased by the Swedish state in 1950 as the residence for the ambassador, the building on R Street was converted to serve solely as the chancery. Until then, it had also served as the residence. All chancery offices were relocated there, and consequently, the previous chancery building on 24th Street was put up for sale. Up to that point, the Swedish mission had office spaces at three different locations in Washington. From 1 July 1971 to 1994, the chancery was located in Suite 1200,

Six Hundred at 600

. Upon moving in 1971, the interior design of the premises was estimated to cost 590,000 SEK, and the design of the space was overseen by the architect Björn Hultén from Gothenburg. The annual rent and operating costs amounted to approximately 900,000 SEK. On 17 June 1994, the chancery moved to 1501 M Street, N.W. Suite 900, where it remained until 2006. File:Embassy of Kenya, Washington, D.C..jpg, The chancery was 1923–1971 located here at 2249 R Street, N.W. Today it's used as the Kenyan embassy. File:WatergateFromAir.JPG,

Watergate complex The Watergate complex is a group of six buildings in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., in the United States. Covering a total of 10 acres (4 ha) just north of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the buildings incl ...

with Watergate Six Hundred to the right File:2013 Watergate complex 02.JPG, Watergate at 600

2006–present

The chancery has since 2006 been housed on the second floor of the then newly built and later the award-winning office and residential complex

on 2900 K Street, N.W. on the Potomac River in Georgetown. House of Sweden is the result after an architectural competition which the National Property Board of Sweden announced in June 2002. The winning entry was selected by the jury in January 2003 and construction began in August 2004. In August 2006 the embassy staff moved in. The opening ceremony was held on 23 October 2006, in the presence of the

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

and

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

of Sweden. The building was designed by architects

Gert Wingårdh Gert Wingårdh (born 1951) is a Swedish architect whose company, Wingårdh arkitektkontor, maintains an international practice.''Gert Wingårdh; Thirty Years of Architecture'', Mikael Nanfeldt (ed.) (Birkhäuser Publishers for Architecture, 2008 ...

and

Tomas Hansen Tomas may refer to: People * Tomás (given name), a Spanish, Portuguese, and Gaelic given name * Tomas (given name), a Swedish, Dutch, and Lithuanian given name * Tomáš, a Czech and Slovak given name * Tomas (surname), a French and Croatian surna ...

and Wingårdh received the Architects Sweden's (''Sveriges Arkitekter'')

Kasper Salin Prize The Kasper Salin Prize ( sv, Kasper Salin-priset) is a prize awarded annually by Architects Sweden () to a Swedish building or building project "of high architectural quality". It is considered the most prestigious architectural prize in the countr ...

in 2007 for the building. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' named the House of Sweden the "Venue of the Year" in 2008. The cost of construction amounted to 482 million SEK. House of Sweden houses the embassy building, embassy offices, 19 apartments and a event center with conference facilities and exhibition spaces. The building is about and is managed by the National Property Board of Sweden. In 2009 Sweden and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

signed a 15-year long contract for office and a residential apartment for the Embassy of Iceland in the House of Sweden. File:House of Sweden - Washington, D.C.jpg, Exterior File:Embassy of Sweden United States.JPG, Exterior File:Embassy of Sweden, Washington, D.C. in dusk.jpg, Exterior File:House of Sweden (8581103074).jpg, Interior

Residence

The residence at 3900 Nebraska Avenue was acquired by Ambassador

Erik Boheman Erik Carlsson Boheman (19 January 1895 – 18 September 1979), was a Sweden, Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party (Sweden), Liberal People's Party.

with his own money in 1950, and after interior work overseen by Mrs Boheman, the transfer took place in early May. As soon as the transfer was complete, renovations on the old residence on R Street began. The Spanish-influenced residence on Nebraska Avenue was designed by American architect Arthur B. Heaton. For several years, the building housed David F. Lawrence, one of the Washington's more well-known newspaper publishers. The residence was decorated with Swedish classics, including

rugs Rug or RUG may refer to: * Rug, or carpet, a textile floor covering * Rug, slang for a toupée * Ghent University (''Rijksunversiteit Gent'', or RUG) * Really Useful Group, or RUG, a company set up by Andrew Lloyd Webber * Rugby railway station, N ...

by Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Gustavian furniture, art by , and Fredrik Reuterswärd. The gallery has French woven wallpapers from the late 1600s and early 1700s with landscape motifs. The residence featured a garden, greenhouse, and tennis court. There, former Ambassador

used to play tennis with President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

. On the night between 20-21 February 1973, eleven paintings, including works by

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish painter. He attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. Among Zorn's portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three American ...

and , were stolen during a break-in at the residence on Nebraska Avenue. Ambassador

had moved out during a restoration. The thieves had lifted a newly glazed window to gain entry to the house. The theft was discovered the next morning by an architect involved in the restoration of the residence. The stolen paintings included, among others: Anders Zorn's "Braskulla," Hugo Zuhr's "Nämforsen,"

Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller (February 18, 1751 – October 5, 1811) was a Swedish painter whose notable works include ''Danaë receiving Jupiter in a Shower of Gold''. Wertmüller was born in Stockholm and studied art at home before moving to Paris i ...

's "Amor as Bacchus," 's "Vårvinter," 's "Norrländskt landskap," 's "Röda lador," an unknown artist's portrait of Adolf Frederick, and a large painting of

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of t ...

. In June 2019, a decision was taken to sell the residence and that the Swedish ambassador would move into House of Sweden. File:Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C LCCN2011631359.tif, Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C File:Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C LCCN2011631356.tif, Residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C File:Detail of the doorway to the residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C LCCN2011631346.tif, Detail of the doorway to the residence of the Ambassador of Sweden in Washington, D.C

History

Buildings

Chancery

1923–2006

2006–present

Residence

Heads of Mission

See also

Footnotes

References

External links