Oslo of yore

[joamox]

I plan to use this thread to post some old photos and sketches of Oslo to show how the city once looked and how it has evolved.
(All photos and sketches are from byarkivet and Norsk Folkemuseum, except from a few from other scattered sources)

I'll start with Stortorvet, Oslo's central square since ca 1730, with the church of Our Saviour (Var Frelsers kirke) as its focal point.

The buildings on the square have changed quite a few times but this is how it looked by the 1950s.
The principal differences today are the three buildings at the western side of the square (at the top of the photo), which was replaced by a modern structure in the 1960s, and on the northern side in the direction of Torggaten on either side of the entrance to that street.



Here you see again the old western facade:



The disappearance of the building furthest to the left in the picture above has created a broken corner on Karl Johans gate. It burned down in 1959. The other two were later demolished.



Here we see the buildings in the direction of Torggaten. The extension of Glasmagasinet in the 1970s corrected the massive difference in height here. The building at the opposite side of the street with a small tower was altered beyond recognition around the same time.



Here we get a closer look at that building. It seems to have resembled closely its neighbour, which still stands relatively unaltered, seen in the airphoto above.



More to follow.

[kjetilab]

Cool thread. Looking forward to see more changes done in Oslo over the years.

[joamox]

The church of our Saviour, on the east side of the square and still Oslo's main church, is originally from 1697.
It was built at a time when the city's fortifications were being given up and the town expanded modestly towards the north.
A devastating fire in 1686 and military considerations had led to the destruction of the previous church from ca 1640. The church was very modest, probably due to economic difficulties at the time it was built, and the square was not properly laid out until 1730. First a small lake on the site had to be drained. Although modest on the outside, the church eventually acquired a respectable interior due to gifts bestowed by the upper classes.





The church we see today is basically the result of an enlargement that took place in the 1850s under the direction of Alexis Chateauneuf from Hamburg.

The royal palace architect. D. F. Linstow delievered this counter-proposal to Chateauneufs scheme, in a surprisingly eclectic and eastern style.



The other major local architect at the time Christian Grosch proposed a rather conventional neo-gothic design

[FREKI]

Nice - I love old pictures!

When looking at my hometown I think a lot of charm have been lost by the "modern" crap from after WW2 or even WW1

[joamox]

The church that preceded the Church of Our Saviour was the Church of the Holy Trinity (Trefoldighedskirken). It stood finished in 1639 and was Christiania's, but not Oslo's, first church. It stood on the square that preceded Stortorvet as the city's main square, what is now known as Christiania torv. The church was demolished after the fire of 1686, due mostly to military considerations and its proximity to the fortress of Akershus.

It is not known exactly what this church looked like, and this sketch by a French artist may not be entirely reliable:



Most agree that it was probably a more impressive edifice than its successor and we know that it had a tall square tower, spire, four clocks and was covered in red dutch brick with ornaments in natural stone.

A new church was built on this site in 1878, a neo-gothic structure named Johanneskirken





This church lasted until 1928 when it was torn down because of a weak foundation that had caused constant problems and rendered it unsafe to use.

[kjetilab]

Such a shame! Both Holy Trinity Church and Johanneskirken looked (as far as I can see) really nice.

[joamox]

Moving on to Pipervika, the building of the city hall changed this area completely.
Pipervika developed into a slum just west of the city walls after 1624, when the city was moved west. Most of the buildings here were built in wood and did not follow the regulations in place inside the city walls. By the beginning of the 20th century, more and more of the city had moved westward and at least the eastern part of Pipervika was by then built mostly in brick. However, the area still had the appearance of a slum and a decision was taken to use the city hall project to renovate it entirely.



(1935) The street in front of the buildings facing the bay was once called Søgaden, it does not exist anymore. The dome of the tivoli is visible to the left. Tordenskiolds plass can be seen in the right corner.



(1939) You may notice Skansen restaurant on Kontraskjæret (lower right corner). It was the first functionalist building in Norway, but was demolished because it was deemed too modern given its close proximity to Akershus fortress. Ekeberg restaurant is of the same architect, Lars Backer. This site was at one point considered for an opera building, but the guy who planned to finance it was ruined by WWI. Eventually Skansen was built instead. Now it's just a park there. Tordenskiolds plass has been filled in by the construction of a large brick building, more or less identical to the one next to city hall.



(1949) The most noticeable building below Victoria Terasse was Pipervikskirken, as can be seen in the pic above.



Skansen restaurant by Lars Backer from 1928.



Pipervikskirken by Harald Aars from 1911.

[joamox]

Tordenskiolds plass is today little more than an extension of rådhusplassen. This map, however, shows how the square was originally laid out:
Notice the irregular winding streets behind Søgadens more respectable facade.



This is how it looked from the ground.



Another map, of most of the vika area in general. The new street plan imposed on the old for comparison.



Further west in vika were the really slummy areas. This place used to be called Algiers and Tunis because those states were known as pirate states at that time and this area was kinda dodgy.



By the end of the 19th century Victoria Terasse was built in this infamous part of town



The building to the right was destroyed during a allied bombing raid in WWII, this because Victoria Terasse was Gestapo headquarters.

[joamox]

Up the road from here towards Frogner, at Solli Plass where the Indeks building is today, stood the English quarter, a building which has often been compared to Victoria Terasse. It was torn down in the 60's.





the building which stood where the American embassy is today was known as Kong Oscars minde. It was a home for old women or something like that.



Here is a sketch



The architect, Christian Grosch, wanted originally to build something like this:



But, neo-medieval was favoured by the patrons.

Also close to the English quarter was something called Mogens Thorsens Stiftelse, which stood in what is now Hydroparken. I only have some airphotos of it..

[Þróndeimr]

Much great architecture has been lost, either during WWII or development of commieblocks, too bad they didn't see great architecture back then as we do today.

[muster]

Great thread Joamox! Many things I didn`t know here, like the English quarter. Many of these buildings should not have been thorn down, but I`m not sad about Vika..

Keep posting

[joamox]

It's time to go further back in time to when the city barely extended beyond Kvadraturen.

Here seen from Ekeberg. Akershus festning and the Church of our Saviour are both clearly visible landmarks. The church in front, below Ekeberg, still stands. It is called Gamlebyen kirke or Oslo Hospital Kirke. It was originally part of a Fransiscan cloister from the middle ages but the present building is from 1796



One of the oldest maps of Christiania from 1648. City walls, bastions and gates clearly marked. The street names are Ovre Gade, Aggersgade, Raadhusgade, Slotsgaden, Kongens gade, Dronningens gade, Strandgaden (not marked) and Raadhusstraedet, Vaterstraedet and Ovre straede, all loosely translated from 17-th century Danish. The city gates are named Store Voldsport, Lille Voldsport and Pipervigsporten. The square seems to be marked one block down from where it should be.



Another map, sort of:



Paleet was royal residence until 1850 when the new palace was ready. It was in many ways a typical Christiana building, although a bit bigger than most others. It was a half-timbered building with plaster to look like stone. It was demolished after WWII.

A model:



Sketch from Bjorvika. Paleet faintly seen in the right corner, at the back. In front baroque garden and pavilion. Bits of this "garden" still exists. Its called Plata and used to be the prime spot for heroin addicts until recently.



Originally Christiania Katedralskole, in Dronningens gate, this building was used as Parliament until the new one was built. It was finally torn down to make way for the Old Post Office building. The interior assembly room has been reconstructed and can be seen at the Folkmuseum.





Stiftsgaarden in Raadhusgaten, demolished early 20th century



Collettgaarden in Kirkegaten



A reconstruction exists at Norsk folkemuseum



Mariboegaarden, The university rented this building while waiting for the project in Karl Johans gate to finish. Demolished to make way for Telegrafbygget by Poulson and Arneberg, architects behind the later city hall.

MG]

Christiania Theater was originally built on Bankplassen by Grosch early 19th century. It was demolished to make way for a new Norges Bank building. The new building is now used as a museum, Samtidsmuseet.





The oldest painting of Christiania

[joamox]

Before the sanitation of Vika, the city also had its tivoli modelled on the one in Copenhagen. In fact, even before that this area, Klingenberg, was known for its entertainment scene, and prostitutes.





The sketch is of the main building as it was originally intended to look. As the photo shows, only one wing was actually built. Hoyre's hus stands on this site today. Klingenberg Kino stands where the domed building once stood (in the pic below to the left).

[joamox]

Next update focuses on Linstow's by and Karl Johans gate

The city centre shifted significantly to the west in the 19th century whereas in the 17th and 18th centuries the city expansion had been more in a north, north-east direction. The main contributor to this was the placing of the new royal palace on the Bellevue hill, to the west of the city, allegedly King Karl Johan himself personally chose the site.

the Palace architect D.F Linstow drew the plans for a main boulevard to connect the new palace with the old city. His plans were realised only in part. (New city in light grey)



Linstow had originally intended a central square with university, parliament and some other civic buildings, but only the northern half of this square was ever realised, known today as university square. Linstow wanted the university to be in some kind of medieval Florentine style. He had also originally intended buildings on both sides of the boulevard but this was hindered by people buying the plots on both sides to avoid neighbors on the southern side. That's why we have a park there today, Studenterlunden.

The Palace itself also underwent changes because of shortage of funds.
Linstow originally planned two-storied H-shaped complex



In 1906, there were proposals to enlarge the palace into something similar to what originally had been intended, but nothing came out of it.



The main boulevard, originally known as Slotsvejen, now Karl Johans gate, has gone through some dramatic changes over the years



The block directly to the east of the University was originally built in the early 1840s. Both cornerbuildings were demolished and replaced with taller buildings in the late 1890s. The second and third closest buildings are from the 1860s after a fire destroyed the original ones.



The cornerbuilding at Rosenkrantzgate was originally built in wood, which was perfectly legal at the time since Slotsvejen, as it was called then, was outside the city limits. Grand hotels original building was also from the 1840s.



The area around Egertorget was in 1840 characterised by winding alleys and irregularly constructed houses. Most of it was cleared out for new buildings, but these have also changed successively since then. The latest additions came in the 70s, at the corner of Akersgaten and at the corner of Grandkvartalet.



The area around Stortorvet is a much older part of town, but also here the architecture of the late 1800s is dominant



The pedestrian part of Karl Johans gate was part of the old city. Before being joined to Slotsvejen to form Karl Johans gate it was known mostly as Østre gade.

[joamox]

To you guys who think you know Oslo, here is a quiz for you

Where is/was this?

[muster]

No problem. It must be Torggata, hehe

[joamox]

Spot on, ok, here is another one



post-edit: This is actually Akersgaten, between Grensen and Høyesterettsplass/Apotekergaten

[muster]

Hmm, I need more time on this one, but maybe its Grønlandsleiret? Not sure really. The two buildings in front look very familiar..

[joamox]

Sorry dude, you are way off, reason being that this street has been looking nothing like in that photo for some time now. The clue to where this is is the larger building at the end of the block, this still being a very important judiciary building.

Stortingsgaten looks nothing like it once did









This little street was once called Filosofgangen, stand here today and you will be looking straight at the City Hall facade.

[muster]

Hmm, you are killing me here. I give up, but nice photos though