Åhléns City is a

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

in the

Norrmalm Norrmalm is a city district in Stockholm, Sweden. History Norrmalm is a part of the larger borough of Norrmalm (''Norrmalms stadsdelsområde''). The southern part of the district, Lower Norrmalm (''Nedre Norrmalm''), also known as the City, ...

district in central

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The building is located at Klarabergsgatan 50 and takes up the entirety of the Gripen

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

. Åhléns City is the largest singular store of the

Åhléns Åhléns () is a chain of Swedish department stores. With locations in almost every city in the country, including 18 in Stockholm alone , it is the fourth largest group of fashion stores in Sweden. History Åhléns began as a mail order bu ...

chain and amounts to almost 20% of the chain's total revenue. The building was designed by the architectural bureau Backström & Reinius Arkitekter AB, was opened on 9 September 1964 and was awarded the

Kasper Salin Prize The Kasper Salin Prize () 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 country and has been awarded s ...

in 1966. The building is noted by the

Stockholm City Museum The Stockholm City Museum () is a museum documenting, preserving and exhibiting the history of Stockholm. The museum is housed in Södra Stadshuset at Slussen on Södermalm. History The building was completed in 1685. In the 1930s the museum m ...

for "having an obviously high cultural historical value".

Background

In the 1950s the board of Åhlén & Holm saw that the

redevelopment of Norrmalm The redevelopment of Norrmalm (; ) was a major revision of the city plan for lower Norrmalm district in Stockholm, Sweden, which was principally decided by the Stockholm town council in 1945, and realised during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. ...

would move the centre of the city from

Hötorget Hötorget (''Haymarket'') is a city square in the center of Stockholm, Sweden that has been transitioning since the Early Medieval Period. Description To its east lies the Royal Concert Hall, to its south lies Filmstaden Sergel, one of the ...

Sergels torg Sergels torg ("Sergel's Square") is a major public square in Stockholm, Sweden, constructed in the 1960s and named after 18th-century sculptor Johan Tobias Sergel, whose workshop was once located north of the square. Overview Sergels torg h ...

. Åhlén & Holm owned a building on Hötorget at the time, called Tempohuset, where the Kungshallen building is currently located. The

Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality () or the City of Stockholm () is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, making it the second most ...

exchanged the building at Hötorget with a building where Åhléns City is currently located. Both parties benefited from the deal, the municipality got a valuable building and Åhlén & Holm got a building precisely next to the Stockholm Metro hub

T-Centralen T-Centralen is the largest and busiest station on the Stockholm Metro. It is located in the Norrmalm district of central Stockholm, directly adjacent to Stockholm Central Station and Stockholm City Station, Stockholm City commuter train station. ...

near the

Stockholm Central Station Stockholm Central Station (), is the main Train station, railway station in Stockholm, and largest railway station in Sweden in terms of passenger numbers and train traffic. It is located in the Norrmalm district of central Stockholm on Vasagat ...

. The old building in the Gripen block was torn down in the early 1960s along with the

Stockholm workers' institute Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and the

Valhalla Mission In Norse mythology, Valhalla ( , ; , )Orchard (1997:171–172) is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. There were five possible realms the soul could travel to after death. The first was Fólkvangr ...

Building

The

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

plan originally described a low building with two floors and three

multifamily residential Multifamily residential, also known as multidwelling unit (MDU), is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can ...

buildings on top of it.

Backström & Reinius Bäckström and Backström are Swedish surnames, etymologically distinct from one another, and sometimes anglicized to Beckstrom or Backstrom. Bäckström means "creak stream". Backström means "downhill stream". Notable people with the name incl ...

changed this after studying American commercial architecture to a windowless high street facade with a painted wall with alternating red and white stripes. The outer surface of the

precast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable molding (process), mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples i ...

elements consists of brick glassed in red and white. The architects wanted to avoid

electronic signage Electronic signage (also called electronic signs or electronic displays) are illuminant advertising media in the signage industry. Major electronic signage include fluorescent signs, HID ( high intensity displays), incandescent signs, LED sig ...

with

neon Neon is a chemical element; it has symbol Ne and atomic number 10. It is the second noble gas in the periodic table. Neon is a colorless, odorless, inert monatomic gas under standard conditions, with approximately two-thirds the density of ...

and thought the facade was signage enough on its own. The company has later opted to advertise with large photograph prints on the facade. The building was commissioned by Åhlén & Holm AB, who got a

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

in 1962. The building was constructed by Jacobson & Widmark and Svenska Industribyggen AB (SIAB). During the building foundation in 1963 in the presence of city antiquarian Tord O:son Nordberg and Åhléns's CEO Gösta Åhlén a copper chest was built into the foundation. It contained 50 selected articles representing the typical catalogue of Åhléns's sale items. On the opening day on 9 September 1964, 25 thousand people visited Åhléns City. The facade to Klarabergsgatan is dominated by a large clock and the company name painted in gold colour. The clock was designed by the building architects and was built from copper with real leaf gold. The clock is synchronised with the Klara Church and the Swedish radio.Swedish building registry
/ref> The whole building measures 40 by 130 metres and can be reached from Klarabergsgatan, Mäster Samuelsgatan and T-Centralen. The building also contains four underground floors. There are two underground floors for parking spaces. The building interior has been renovated several times. The building is currently owned by Stefan Persson's property company Ramsbuy Property AB.

Gallery

EU-SE-Stockholm-Center 035.JPG, Facade to Mäster Samuelsgatan, 2009. Åhléns City, 24 december 2020a.jpg, Advertising window to Klarabergsgatan, 2020. Klarabergsgatan nov 2011a.jpg, Åhléns City with Christmas decorations 2011. Åhléns City of Stockholm (33750288372).jpg, Corner between Klarabergsgatan and Drottninggatan with entrance to T-Centralen in the foreground. Klarabergsgatan, 2019 (01).jpg, View of Klarabergsgatan to the west with Åhléns City to the right, 2019. Åhléns City, 24 december 2020.jpg Åhléns City, 24 december 2020e.jpg Åhléns City, 24 december 2020b.jpg Åhléns City, 24 december 2020c.jpg Åhléns City, 24 december 2020d.jpg

References

External links

*
Åhléns official site
{{Coord, 59, 19, 56, N, 18, 03, 41, E, region:SE, display=title Shopping centres in Sweden Buildings and structures in Stockholm 1964 establishments in Sweden 1960s establishments in Stockholm

Background

Building

Gallery

See also

References

External links