DOI Heft:
No. 391 (October 1925)
DOI Artikel:Wernstedt, Melchior: The Stockholm City Hall
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21403#0211
THE STOCKHOLM CITY HALL
THE BLUE HALL, STOCKHOLM CITY
HALL. ARCHITECT, RAGNAR OSTBERG
The arrangement and distribution of the
different rooms in the State Apartments
is one of the most interesting architectural
conceptions in the City Hall. The huge
body of the tower, with its crowning
lantern visible far around, manifests the
house of the city externally. But it is not
merely an external decoration ; architec-
turally the tower with its lofty vaulted
spaces forms the connecting point where
the two groups of administrative and
representative rooms are knit together into
an organic whole. The great gallery, with
its long rectangular form, its cool stone
character, where the polished black granite
columns enhance the intensity and life
of the yellow tones of the fresco paintings,
does not fail in its intended effect of
giving a sense of space. The southern
sun shines in through the lofty windows
and gives life to the relief figures in the
embrasures. The Waterside Terrace, with
its great open space, trees and flowers,
extends below the windows ; and beyond
it is the open surface of the water with its
sails, boats and the life of the waves.
We go on through a smaller room,
called " The Three Crowns." On the
walls hang silk hangings in blue and
silver, and the visible wood panels and
beams of the ceiling supplement the scale
of colour with their subdued decoration.
Further on there is a smaller room,
entirely decorated with mural paintings,
of whose figures we have already caught a
glimpse through the row of the State
Apartments. The room forms a cool
environment, entirely mural in character
with stone floor and walls and roof in
plaster. Here we turn back, and through
the " Three Crowns " we enter the great
banqueting hall. A soft light is filtered in
from the deep window embrasures on the
long side of the chamber towards the
Civic Court and the Blue Hall. An air of
mystery rests over the room. The walls
are entirely clad in gold mosaic, inter-
spersed with decorative representations of
the city, its history and life. The imposing
shape of the room and the surface treat-
ment of the walls give a quite distinctive
character to this room, which is fresh and
205
THE BLUE HALL, STOCKHOLM CITY
HALL. ARCHITECT, RAGNAR OSTBERG
The arrangement and distribution of the
different rooms in the State Apartments
is one of the most interesting architectural
conceptions in the City Hall. The huge
body of the tower, with its crowning
lantern visible far around, manifests the
house of the city externally. But it is not
merely an external decoration ; architec-
turally the tower with its lofty vaulted
spaces forms the connecting point where
the two groups of administrative and
representative rooms are knit together into
an organic whole. The great gallery, with
its long rectangular form, its cool stone
character, where the polished black granite
columns enhance the intensity and life
of the yellow tones of the fresco paintings,
does not fail in its intended effect of
giving a sense of space. The southern
sun shines in through the lofty windows
and gives life to the relief figures in the
embrasures. The Waterside Terrace, with
its great open space, trees and flowers,
extends below the windows ; and beyond
it is the open surface of the water with its
sails, boats and the life of the waves.
We go on through a smaller room,
called " The Three Crowns." On the
walls hang silk hangings in blue and
silver, and the visible wood panels and
beams of the ceiling supplement the scale
of colour with their subdued decoration.
Further on there is a smaller room,
entirely decorated with mural paintings,
of whose figures we have already caught a
glimpse through the row of the State
Apartments. The room forms a cool
environment, entirely mural in character
with stone floor and walls and roof in
plaster. Here we turn back, and through
the " Three Crowns " we enter the great
banqueting hall. A soft light is filtered in
from the deep window embrasures on the
long side of the chamber towards the
Civic Court and the Blue Hall. An air of
mystery rests over the room. The walls
are entirely clad in gold mosaic, inter-
spersed with decorative representations of
the city, its history and life. The imposing
shape of the room and the surface treat-
ment of the walls give a quite distinctive
character to this room, which is fresh and
205