Larvik – the wooden architecture development from the 17th century to 1900
Among all the Nordic countries, Larvik is the city with the greatest amount of wooden houses. It is evident from the registration prepared in 1972 in connection with an ICOMOS congress about the Nordic wooden towns. Only in the neighbourhoods of Langestrand and Torstrand 1115 such buildings were registered.
Starting already in the prehistoric times, the area around Larvik has been an important thoroughfare. Originally, Larvik was a market town connected to industrial enterprises initiated by the local noble family. The existence of a sawmill at Farriselven is documented as early as 1539. Two of the most important prerequisites for the city at that time were the port and the power of the Farris river. Around the year 1600 an ironworks was opened, which soon became Norway’s most important one. Larvik was declared as a port under the city of Tønsberg in 1665, but was granted city privileges in 1671 when Larvik county was established for Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve, Norwegian viceroy and a natural son of the king. The counts’ residence was completed in 1674 and the Larvik church was consecrated in 1677. The city’s importance increased when the Norwegian naval base Fredriksvern was established in 1750. Until 1814, Norway was under Danish reign. In 1881 Larvik became connected to the Norwegian railway system.
Map showing the different areas of Larvik’s development before WWII, Kulturminneanalyse, 2004
Index
[Collapse]The 17th century
The vernacular architecture of the Norwegian early modern period, up until 1700, was comparatively uniform. Larvik developed into a town mainly in the 17th century. The city itself had a bourgeois class including the bureaucrats of the count, a petty bourgeois class including more prosperous craftsmen and seamen, and a lower working class supplying the other classes with their services. Different social classes had different areas preferences in the city. In the eastern part of the city, the counts’ residence Herregården was established, while on its western side the industrial development at Langestrand was dominated with workers’ dwellings. The wealthier merchants inhabited the lands along the harbour, and the lower classes the area of Stenene and later Bøkelia, which were mainly hillsides. A more mixed population gathered around the market place above the harbour (Hovedbyen). A mixed suburban development – Torstrand – existed east of the residence, and in the late 19th century it developed into an industrial working class area.
New building types developed from a basic scheme to more elaborate plans. The reason for that was the need for more rooms within the same building body. The manor houses developed in such manner from the 16th century onward, and later they were adapted by the city bourgeois and further developed in the 17th century. For a normal bourgeois dwelling this first implied a living room separate from the kitchen, and a bedroom independent from the living room – often together with a small office. First floor was initially taken up by storage rooms that could be used as bedrooms when necessary. Bourgeois dwellings would also have had a separate goods storage house with easy access from the harbour and the street. Around 1700, also the bourgeois class started to make presentable architectural facades facing the street – based on symmetry and an impressive entrance. This was adapted from contemporary manorhouses and general European ideals. Nevertheless, simpler dwellings kept the basic tworoom plan even until the 20th century.
Houses in the city’s former main street, Storgata (now Kirkestredet), built by wealthy merchants and county officials in the first half of the 18th century, 2004, photo from Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection
In the 17th century the roofs in the cities and towns were often covered with tiles. The tiles and bricks were imported mainly from Holland and Denmark as brick furnaces generally did not exist in Norway from the Middle Ages until the late 18th century.
Typical dwellings of craftsmen and petty bourgeoisie in Stenene, late 18th century, 2004, photographs from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection
Typical dwellings of craftsmen and petty bourgeoisie in Stenene, late 18th century, 2004, photographs from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection
Additionally, basement vaults, chimneys and furnaces of brick and tiled roofs were quite common in the coastal cities and towns.
The 17th and early 18th century townscapes were a manifestation of the vernacular architectural style – unpainted timber, some panelling and a few brick buildings, even though the interiors were all of common European standards, including the humbler living rooms of seamen and craftsmen.
The mix of tiled roofs on bigger houses, and wood, or even turf, on simpler dwellings, is apparent in a series of ‘Norwegian cities’ paintings from 1698–1700 authored by Jacob Coning. This particular painting depicts Moss, but a painting of Larvik from this period would have been very similar.
The 18th century
The sizes of houses and their wooden roofs were still the main difference between buidings in the period around 1700. However, the diversity in house appearance developed very much during the 18th century. Especially from the middle of the century the townscapes became more diversified. According to the fire insurance protocols from 1768, the merchant houses in the main street along the harbour of Larvik were all painted pink, white, yellow, green and blue, not only the basic red and grey. At the same time, the use of lead glass in windows became less common. Wooden windows called ‘English’ with clearer and bigger glass panes became popular even in ordinary dwellings. The increasing size of richer houses is another development noted in the early 18th century.
Roof forms were also evolving from the simple roof with gables type. Already in the 17th century the hipped ‘Italian’ roof became constructed for more important buildings, first around 1650 in manor houses. The hipped roof was popular in big houses similarly to the mansard roof that became very popular around 1750. The situation changed further in late 18th century when the half hipped roof became the leading type, adopted from Denmark and Germany where it had been a vernacular form, becoming fashionable in academic architecture there at the same time.
When in 1700 and 1733 the count’s residence was covered with blue (black) glazed roof tiles imported from Holland, these became popular with bigger houses.
Moreover, the panelled and painted facades had profiles, cornices and pilasters adapted to wooden structures from the architectural ideals which were often interpreted quite freely. Trompe l’oeil decoration was used to imitate carved stone. Sometimes ornaments were carved in wood as well. The carved wooden doors are preserved in quite a few houses in Larvik, always rather German in design.
As far as two storey houses are concerned, the staircase solution developed from the backyard open galleries – which evolved into staircases incorporated in the house hallway. This development became common during the first half of the 18th century, even though the galleries were often panelled with windows and the steep narrow staircase was kept. In most of the richer households, the ground floor remained the best floor – but after the big fire of 1792 a few elegant houses had a representative first floor constructed.
The 19th century
In general, the architecture of wooden mansions continued as an interpretation of the stone structures until the 1850s, when an international academic architectural style for wooden buildings appeared. It was called the ‘Swiss style’ after its main source of inspiration; however, it has been ifluenced by many European vernacular constructions – including the Polish ones.
Larvik, Kirkestredet 8, building dated 1859. An example of a wealthy town house in the early ‘Swiss style’, photograph from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection, 2004
Larvik, Torget 1, building dated 1860. An example of a wealthy town house in the early ‘Swiss style’, photograph from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection, 2004
The swiss style introduced different plans for smaller houses – namely, a double plan with four rooms around one chimney (it had previously been a baroque plan for wealthier dwellings). Elaborate gables and verandas became common, too. A distinct Norwegian branch of the style has also become internationally acknowledged. It was, however, based on stave churches, Viking ship decor and medieval lofts rather than the more recent vernacular architecture. It was adapted to dwellings and called the ‘Dragon style’ in Norwegian, thanks to its most beloved decorative motif. It was first around 1900 that the common vernacular became an inspiration for academic Norwegian architecture. This later phase of architectural development resulted in interesting house structures also in Larvik. This, however, is outside the scope of the present article.
Typical dwellings of craftsmen and petty bourgeoisie in ‘Swiss style’, Nedre Bøkeligate 16, photograph from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection
Typical dwellings of craftsmen and petty bourgeoisie in ‘Swiss style’, Øvre Steinstredet 7, photograph from the Lars Jacob Hvinden-Haug’s collection
As a fairly sizeable town for Norwegian standards, Larvik had several brick buildings constructed in 19th century, too. As regular houses, these were built in the later part of the 19th century as a result of stricter fire regulations. Before the 19th century, the only masonry buildings were the count’s new residence dated 1700 (pulled down about 1760), the church from 1680, the hospital from 1760 and a single private house dated 1714. Another brick structure was the castle of the Lange family built outside the city, which was ruined in 1654.
The 19th century building examples were all designed in an international neo renaissance / late classicism style of German origin. Plastered and with ornaments of plaster cast, these houses were mainly two storey ones.
Plastered facades dominated the cityscape of the late 19th century. The main market square in Larvik around 1900, postcard, Larvik Museum
Before unplastered brick was used for school buildings, it was mainly used for factories, of which Larvik had plenty. In the digital reconstruction of Larvik from 1900, these whitish and greyish stuccoed facades will dominate around the market square and the Prinsegata street. The whitepainted wooden facades of the neoclassical town of the early 19th century have by 1900 been replaced by the wood imitating ochres and browns of the Swiss style. In 1900 most roofs were probably covered with tiles – including the humblest dwellings in Torstrand.
The development of wooden architecture in the central parts of Larvik came to an end with the city fire of 1902. Not everything was destroyed, but a prohibition on building new wooden houses from then on resulted in the brick construction of even the most humble dwellings.
Edited by: Lars Jacob Hvinden‑Haug
Norsk Institutt for Kulturminneforskning (Niku)
Article from the book:
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