[Trimac20]

I live in Melbourne, Australia. Despite our short history (founded in 1835), we have more Victorian architecture than most cities in the world. The reason being was the Victorian goldrush (coincidentally we're in the state of Victoria) in the 1850s, which saw the population swell and many grand buildings, smaller buildings and houses built as the city expanded rapidly. By 1900 we had over 600,000 people and were in the top 20 biggest cities in the world.

So yes, we have a lot of Victorian architecture (1838-1901), not just in the inner city but spreading throughout the inner and some middle suburbs. A lot of old rowhouses, some cottages, mansions, pubs/hostels, banks, shops, parliament house, town hall, theatres.etc.

We have A LOT of Edwardian architecture, also known as 'Federation', including a lot where I live, like many suburbs that were primarily built up in the early 20th century. Quite a bit of art deco (including many fine theatres), bahaus, a lot of California bungalow type places, and a ton of mid 20th century modernist homes, as well as a ton of newer buildings of course.

The area I live in is a real mix: late Victorian timber working cottages, ornate shopfronts from say 1875-1920, Federation with verandahs and iron roofs, Georgian mansions, California bungalows, modernist brick and a lot of modern homes.

 

[Adde]

That's an interesting question! I visited Melbourne earlier this year and I loved all Victorian architecture. The city feels surprisingly old for a city founded so comparatively late.

My city is Stockholm in Sweden. I'll try to make a summary mostly from memory.

Stockholm by szefi, on Flickr

Stockholm was founded around 1250 AD. Until the 1600's, the town was mostly located on an island called "Stadsholmen", the Town Island. On this island, today known as Gamla Stan or Old Town, about half to 2/3's of the current buildings have medieval brickwork to varying degrees. Many are basically medieval buildings with 17th, 18th or 19th century modifications (larger windows, added floors, newer roofs).

The precise dates of the medieval buildings are hard to determine. Most were probably built in the 1400's when most of Stockholm's wooden buildings were replaced by brick buildings, but some are probably older. The oldest standing buildings in the city are two churches in the Old Town, Riddarholmskyrkan (originally a monastery church) and Storkyrkan, the town's main cathedral. Construction on both began in the second half of the 13th century.

Gamla Stan has also got buildings from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The most prolific period of construction in this part of town after the medieval period was the 17th century when Sweden was a great power in Europe and money flowed into the city from wars on the continent. Noble families built palaces both in Gamla Stan and in new neighborhoods that started to form as the population increased dramatically. Today about 30 of these private palaces, most from the 17th century, survive. There are also many grand houses built by wealthy tradesmen and craftsmen from this period.

In the early 17th century the population of Stockholm increased dramatically to about 40,000 people in 1660. This was when Stockholm really grew beyond Gamla Stan. Occasional buildings from the 17th and 18th century survive in the inner city neighborhoods of Norrmalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Södermalm. Tragically, around 700 buildings from primarily this period was torn down in Norrmalm between 1952 and 1976. Today the biggest number of 17th and 18th century buildings outside of the Old Town can be found on Södermalm, where several well preserves areas of older, mostly working class neighborhoods still stand.

The next construction boom took place between the 1870's and 1920's when the population of the city grew from about 130,000 to 500,000. The mostly 2-3 story building stock of earlier centuries was largely replaced by 5-6 story closed blocks of apartments. This is the dominant type of building in inner city Stockholm today.

After ca 1930 we've mostly built suburbs in Stockholm. The inner city suburbs were built in the 30's, 40's and 50's, and the outer ones post-1960. Single family homes have been built since the 1890's, but became more common after the 1960's.

As already mentioned, a big area in the central city just north of Gamla Stan was turned into a modernist financial district in the 60's and 70's.

Contemporary architecture can mostly be found in a couple of developments close to the inner city on mostly reclaimed industrial land, such as Hammarby Sjöstad (80's to present), Norra Djurgårdsstaden (under development right now) and Hagastaden (in early development).

 

[Trimac20]

That's an interesting question! I visited Melbourne earlier this year and I loved all Victorian architecture. The city feels surprisingly old for a city founded so comparatively late.

My city is Stockholm in Sweden. I'll try to make a summary mostly from memory.

Stockholm by szefi, on Flickr

Stockholm was founded around 1250 AD. Until the 1600's, the town was mostly located on an island called "Stadsholmen", the Town Island. On this island, today known as Gamla Stan or Old Town, about half to 2/3's of the current buildings have medieval brickwork to varying degrees. Many are basically medieval buildings with 17th, 18th or 19th century modifications (larger windows, added floors, newer roofs).

The precise dates of the medieval buildings are hard to determine. Most were probably built in the 1400's when most of Stockholm's wooden buildings were replaced by brick buildings, but some are probably older. The oldest standing buildings in the city are two churches in the Old Town, Riddarholmskyrkan (originally a monastery church) and Storkyrkan, the town's main cathedral. Construction on both began in the second half of the 13th century.

Gamla Stan has also got buildings from the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. The most prolific period of construction in this part of town after the medieval period was the 17th century when Sweden was a great power in Europe and money flowed into the city from wars on the continent. Noble families built palaces both in Gamla Stan and in new neighborhoods that started to form as the population increased dramatically. Today about 30 of these private palaces, most from the 17th century, survive. There are also many grand houses built by wealthy tradesmen and craftsmen from this period.

In the early 17th century the population of Stockholm increased dramatically to about 40,000 people in 1660. This was when Stockholm really grew beyond Gamla Stan. Occasional buildings from the 17th and 18th century survive in the inner city neighborhoods of Norrmalm, Östermalm, Kungsholmen and Södermalm. Tragically, around 700 buildings from primarily this period was torn down in Norrmalm between 1952 and 1976. Today the biggest number of 17th and 18th century buildings outside of the Old Town can be found on Södermalm, where several well preserves areas of older, mostly working class neighborhoods still stand.

The next construction boom took place between the 1870's and 1920's when the population of the city grew from about 130,000 to 500,000. The mostly 2-3 story building stock of earlier centuries was largely replaced by 5-6 story closed blocks of apartments. This is the dominant type of building in inner city Stockholm today.

After ca 1930 we've mostly built suburbs in Stockholm. The inner city suburbs were built in the 30's, 40's and 50's, and the outer ones post-1960. Single family homes have been built since the 1890's, but became more common after the 1960's.

As already mentioned, a big area in the central city just north of Gamla Stan was turned into a modernist financial district in the 60's and 70's.

Contemporary architecture can mostly be found in a couple of developments close to the inner city on mostly reclaimed industrial land, such as Hammarby Sjöstad (80's to present), Norra Djurgårdsstaden (under development right now) and Hagastaden (in early development).

Thanks for the detailed summary of your city's architectural history! It makes me want to visit Stockholm more now. The idea of people living and working in these 600 year old buildings is really cool. Of course we don't have Medieval buildings in Australia, so going to Europe to see them is such a novelty. I've only been to Italy and the UK, which was amazing, especially Rome with it's 3000+ years of history and architecture. I really want to visit Copenhagen on my next trip there, how does it differ from Stockholm in terms of architecture?

 

[Adde]

I'm not an expert on Copenhagen at all, so I'm sure a Dane could give you a better answer. But I'd guess the architectural history is similar, though not identical. Copenhagen doesn't have a discrete "Old Town" like Stockholm, but there's definately old parts of the city with medieval buildings. Like Stockholm it's also dominated by late 19th and early 20th century apartment buildings in closed blocks. Unlike Stockholm, the 20th century architecture isn't as suburban, and consequently the area of "inner city" (if defined as closed blocks of apartments fronting onto the streets) is a bit bigger than in Stockholm, where the break between the traditional inner city and modernist suburbs is very abrupt.