Love Letter 26: The Townhouse

Karin Strom
Posted April 9, 2014 in More

karin_strom_pressbild7_foto_charles_lofblad-473x320

Stockholm loves to think of itself as New York’s sixth borough. First and foremost it’s the bar and restaurant culture that takes inspiration from the Big Apple – examples include the on-going fast food craze where everyone from rapper Petter to actor Joel Kinnaman are opening their “own” burger joint, and the act of naming a run-of-the-mill Hornstull shack “Bar Brooklyn.” Fashion and music are, of course, other fields where Stockholmers are very susceptible to trends from The City That Never Sleeps, but of late, our love for New York has also started to manifest itself architecturally; the townhouse has entered our cityscape.

Of course, it’s not a US invention at all. Wealthy Brits – the type that would own one or more country houses in which they lived for much of the year – invented the townhouse in the 18th century when they needed somewhere to stay in town during the social season, which also needed to be big enough for their entourage of servants. Soon, the building became a common feature in New York, as well as in Amsterdam, Berlin and Dublin. But besides one or two antique single family homes in Gamla Stan, Stockholm has been completely devoid of them – until now.

All of a sudden they are cropping up all over the place: Ola Andersson has created townhouses in Djurgårdsstaden which will be completed in 2017 and Gert Wingårdh has designed villas for Herserudsklippan. On a quiet side street in Vasastan, Joar Sörman has transformed an old printing house from the 1930’s into five slender townhouses, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic himself (or at least a company related to the footballing god) bought Elimkyrkan in Östermalm to build “townhouses with inspiration from New York.”

On Norr Mälarstrand, a former schoolhouse from 1908 was just transformed into a luxury townhouse of nearly 400 square metres. And as British as it might be, most of us associate it more with New York after having seen it in innumerable American films.

The townhouse is said to bring together the best of both worlds – the space and freedom of your own house, where you never have to think about disturbing your neighbour if you want to drill a hole in the wall at seven in the morning or dance until dawn, still centrally located right in the city. The fact that the houses typically don’t have much to offer in terms of a garden is often seen as an advantage for those who can think of better things to do than mowing the lawn. Another great feature of the townhouse is that the physical shape of the building – tall and thin – allows for a greater distance between the separate rooms. If you want some peace and quiet from the rest of the gangsters you’re living with, just walk up a few stairs and you can barely hear them.

There’s just one snag, really. They’re not cheap. The combination of ”town”, as in the heart of the city, and ”house”, as in many square meters, is usually one that costs a lot of money, and the townhouse is no exception. This is probably why they have been so rare here – during all those years of social democratic rule, there wasn’t really any market for them; people simply weren’t rich enough. But times they are a-changing, and the cityscape changes with them.

Popular right now
  1. Stockholms okända kändisar

    Posted in More September 23, 2021

  2. Shopping: Svenskt Tenn

    Posted in Uncategorized January 15, 2016

  3. Stockholm’s Best Pizza Places

    Posted in Food & Drink May 14, 2018

  4. Loans in Sweden

    Posted in More August 26, 2019

  5. Så påverkar nikotin din kropp

    Posted in More, Uncategorized August 21, 2020

  6. Eat This Now: Wallonbulle

    Posted in Food & Drink August 10, 2017

  7. Dinner @ Speceriet

    Posted in Food & Drink March 6, 2013

  8. Surfing in Sweden

    Posted in Arts April 18, 2013

  9. Stina Nordenstam

    Posted in Arts September 2, 2013

  10. Dating in Sweden

    Posted in More April 25, 2013

SEARCH

NEWSLETTER

The key to the city. Straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter.

Norges Casino

NEWSLETTER

The key to the city. Straight to your inbox. Sign up for our newsletter.

Skip to toolbar