Smestad is a historically wealthy area in the borough

Vestre Aker Vestre Aker (Western Aker) is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. It has a population of 50,157 as of 2020. The previous Aker Municipality was merged into the city of Oslo in 1948. The borough of Vestre Aker was org ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. It is named after the Smestad Mansion and family, and was parcelled out for residences after the tram line was built in 1912. The district is located between north of Hoff and

Skøyen Skøyen is a neighborhood of Oslo, Norway. It is located in the western part of the city, in the borough of Ullern. The district has an increasing share of business activities, a development started in the 80s. Skøyen is the site of Skøyenpa ...

, east of Montebello in

Ullern Ullern is a List of boroughs of Oslo, borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. History The borough has its name from an old farm, Old Norse language, Norse ''Ullarin''. The first element is the genitive case of the name of the Norse god Ullr. The l ...

, west of the

Frogner Park Frogner Park () is a public park in the central West End borough of Frogner in Oslo, Norway. The park is historically part of Frogner Manor and is Oslo's largest park, open to the public at all times. It includes the manor house which is the sea ...

and south of Heggeli. It is served by Smestad station.

Smestad Elementary School

Smestad Elementary School, was founded on 31 January 1939 and has around 690 students today. The school was temporarily closed on 20. April 1940 when 70 German soldiers occupied the school and erected barbed wire around it. When the school opened on 21. November 1945,

King Olav Olav V (, ; born Prince Alexander of Denmark; 2 July 1903 – 17 January 1991) was King of Norway from 1957 until his death in 1991. Olav was born at Sandringham House in England, the only child of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of Wa ...

gave a speech at the school and enrolled his son. The alumni include

King Harald V Harald V (, ; born 21 February 1937) has been King of Norway since 1991. A member of the House of Glücksburg, Harald was the third child and only son of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Märtha of Sweden. He was second in the line of succ ...

Princess Märtha Louise Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin ''princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for t ...

and

Crown Prince Haakon Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway (; Haakon Magnus; born 20 July 1973) is the heir apparent to the Norwegian throne. He is the only son of King Harald V and Queen Sonja. Haakon represents the fourth generation of the sitting Norwegian royal fami ...

Smestad station

Smestad is a station shared by the Røa Line (line 5) and the Kolsås Line (line 2) on the

Oslo T-bane The Oslo Metro ( or or simply ) is the rapid transit system of Oslo, Norway, operated by Sporveien T-banen on contract from the transit authority Ruter. The network consists of five lines that all run through the city centre, with a total length ...

system. Although the two lines continue to share track some time after Smestad, passing the former station of Sørbyhaugen which was also shared, they diverge before passing another station. The next station to the west is Makrellbekken on Røabanen and the temporary station of Husebybakken on Kolsåsbanen. The next station to the east is Borgen. Smestad is located 4.6 km from Stortinget.

Smestad mansion

Smestad Mansion is the main house of the former Smestad estate, located on Monolitveien 46, and rebuilt in its current "Swiss Villa" stile in the late 1800s by

Carl Smestad Carl Smestad (born – 4 April 1924) was a landowner and trader in ice and produce. He owned Smestad Mansion and its surrounding lands, comprising large parts of what is today the Smestad district in Oslo. He was the grandson of Jacob Olssøn Sme ...

. The estate was the largest farm in the Aker district of Oslo and covers the district in Oslo known as Smestad today. It has its origins in the 1100s as Hovedøya Kloster, later crown estate, and got its current name in 1682 after it was changed by Henrich Lachmann who sold the farm to

Jacob Olssøn Smestad Jacob Olssøn Smestad (1673–1728), was a Norwegian farmer and land owner who was the first member of the Smestad family to own the Smestad farm, which became the origin of the district Smestad in Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and m ...

in 1706. The estate was split in 1728 into Upper and Lower Smestad, with the former being bought by

Aker Municipality Aker was a former independent municipality in Akershus, Norway, that constitutes the vast majority of the territory of the modern city of Oslo. The name originally belonged to a farm which was located near the current Old Aker Church. The church ...

in 1922 which parcelled it into residences. Lower Smestad, at 91,3 hectares land and 3,2 hectares ponds, was developed into a residential area by the Smestad family trust primarily during the 1970s and 80's with the last buildings erected in the old driveway in 1989.

Smestad ponds

The Smestad ponds are man made ponds which were dug out during the late 1800s by Carl Smestad to provide the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

of Oslo with ice for refrigeration throughout much of the year. This was a lucrative trade with notable customers such as 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 ...

Karl Johans Gate Karl Johans gate is the main street of the city of Oslo, Norway. The street was named in honor of King Charles III John, who was also King of Sweden as Charles XIV John. Karl Johans gate is a composite of several older streets that used to be s ...

, in particular due to the ponds central location. Ice halls were built in the 1880s for storage and export.Rundt Smestaddammene og Ullernåsen: Smestad, Skøyen, Abbediengen. Huse Hoff, Øivind Rødevand

References

{{Reflist Neighbourhoods of Oslo