Sevald Theodor Richard Andvord (5 August 1839 – 8 November 1913) was a Norwegian businessperson, known for founding the company Rich. Andvord

Rich. Andvord

Rich. Andvord AS was a Norwegian company.It was established in 1865 by Richard Andvord, who traded with pens, paper and other writing materials through an outlet near Stortorvet, Oslo. He soon expanded into a larger company, including book printing and bookbinding in the company portfolio.In later...

.

He was born in Lom

Lom, Norway

Lom is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Fossbergom....

 as the son of bailiff Paul Thorsteinson Andvord. He moved to Christiania

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

 in 1855 to work as an assistant in his uncle's shop. He also spent one year in Germany. In 1865 he opened his own store near Stortorvet

Stortorvet

Stortorvet is a square in Oslo, Norway, located west of Oslo Cathedral.It was officially inaugurated during the autarchic times, in 1736. A town market was held here until 1889. Marketing still exists, but has largely been moved to Youngstorget...

, named Rich. Andvord

Rich. Andvord

Rich. Andvord AS was a Norwegian company.It was established in 1865 by Richard Andvord, who traded with pens, paper and other writing materials through an outlet near Stortorvet, Oslo. He soon expanded into a larger company, including book printing and bookbinding in the company portfolio.In later...

. He imported pens, paper and other writing materials. Andvord soon got many notable customers, including Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...

, Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg

Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...

, Jonas Lie

Jonas Lie

Jonas Lauritz Idemil Lie was a Norwegian novelist, poet, and playwright who is considered to have been one of the Four Greats of 19th century Norwegian literature, together with Henrik Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Alexander Kielland.-Background:Jonas Lie was born at Hokksund in Øvre Eiker, in...

, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson was a Norwegian writer and the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. Bjørnson is considered as one of The Four Greats Norwegian writers; the others being Henrik Ibsen, Jonas Lie, and Alexander Kielland...

, Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker and an important forerunner of expressionist art. His best-known composition, The Scream, is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.- Childhood :Edvard Munch...

, Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Nansen

Fridtjof Wedel-Jarlsberg Nansen was a Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In his youth a champion skier and ice skater, he led the team that made the first crossing of the Greenland interior in 1888, and won international fame after reaching a...

 and Gustav Vigeland

Gustav Vigeland

Gustav Vigeland was a Norwegian sculptor. Gustav Vigeland occupies a special position among Norwegian sculptors, both in the power of his creative imagination and in his productivity. He is most associated with Vigeland Sculpture Park in Oslo...

, and the store became a meeting place for artists and other notables. The new postal communication and the expanded bureaucracy meant even more for Andvord's business. He soon expanded into a larger company. Book printing and bookbinding were included in the company portfolio.

Andvord was also a member of Kristiania city council, and of Den norske Creditbank

Den norske Creditbank

Den norske Creditbank or DnC is a defunct Norwegian commercial bank created in 1857. In 1990 it merged with Bergen Bank to create Den norske Bank...

, Kreditkassen, Storebrand

Storebrand

Storebrand is a financial services company in Norway. By volume, the company's main activities are related to life insurance and pension savings. However, the company also has major divisions working on investments, banking and, since 2006, P&C insurance products...

, Idun and the National Theatre

Nationaltheatret

The National Theatre in Oslo is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts.The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiania Theatre, which was founded in 1829...

. Andvord was an active philanthropist, and also led Borgervæpningen, a civic guard consisting of burghers but disestablished in 1881. In 1883 he married Cathinca Sofie Jacobsen (1849–1935), a first cousin of Johan Svendsen

Johan Svendsen

Johan Severin Svendsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania , Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark....

. She was a skilled musician, and helped leading a bourgeois social life in the couple's Frogner

Frogner

Frogner is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. In addition to traditional Frogner, the borough incorporates Bygdøy, Uranienborg and Majorstuen....

 home.

Andvord was decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1881. He died in November 1913 in Kristiania, and was buried at Vår Frelsers gravlund

Vår Frelsers gravlund

Vår Frelsers gravlund is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It was created in 1808 as a result of the great famine and cholera epidemic of the Napoleonic Wars. Its grounds were extended in 1911. The cemetery has been full since 1952...

. The grave was later made into a family grave; other family members resting there include Richard Andvord

Richard Andvord (born 1886)

Richard Andvord was a Norwegian cavalry officer, diplomat and aide-de-camp for the Norwegian Royal Family.-Early life and career:...

 (1886–1965) and Richard Andvord

Richard Andvord (born 1920)

Richard Andvord was a Norwegian businessperson and resistance member.-Career:Already before World War II he worked in the family company Rich. Andvord in Oslo, founded by Richard Andvord in 1865...

 (1920–1997). His company still exists, although it was merged with C. Tybring-Gjedde in 2005 to form the new company Andvord Tybring-Gjedde.