Strömsborg
Encyclopedia
Islet
An islet is a very small island.- Types :As suggested by its origin as islette, an Old French diminutive of "isle", use of the term implies small size, but little attention is given to drawing an upper limit on its applicability....
in central Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, located north of Stadsholmen
Stadsholmen
Stadsholmen is the historical name of an island in the centre of Stockholm, Sweden. Together with the small islands Riddarholmen and Helgeandsholmen it forms the Old town of Stockholm....
, and west of Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen
Helgeandsholmen is a small island in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is located north of Stadsholmen, and east of Strömsborg, with which, together with Riddarholmen, it forms Gamla stan, the old town of Stockholm...
, between the bridges Centralbron
Centralbron
Centralbron is one of the major traffic routes in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the northern district Norrmalm to the southern Södermalm....
, a motorway passing through central Stockholm, and Vasabron
Vasabron
Vasabron is a bridge over Norrström in central Stockholm, Sweden connecting Norrmalm to Gamla stan, the old city....
. Strömsborg is part of Gamla stan
Gamla stan
Gamla stan , until 1980 officially Staden mellan broarna , is the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Gamla stan consists primarily of the island Stadsholmen. The surrounding islets Riddarholmen, Helgeandsholmen, and Strömsborg are officially part of, but not colloquially included in, Gamla stan...
, the old town of Stockholm and is connected to the rest of the world by the bridge Strömsborgsbron
Strömsborgsbron
Strömsborgsbron is a bridge in Gamla stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It connects the islet Strömsborg to the bridge Vasabron.The present bridge is from 1992-1993.- See also :* List of bridges in Stockholm...
leading over to Vasabron.
History
Skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack....
"). This name has survived as the original name of the present island. However, it is far from certain that this ever was a proper name in common use. For example, in 1747 Tillæus mentions it as det stenskär eller klippa som är beläget uti Norra Ström och Melaren ("the stone skerry or cliff that is located in Northern Stream
Norrström
Norrström in central Stockholm connects Lake Mälaren with the Baltic Sea. It runs from Riddarfjärden, north of Gamla stan, to Saltsjön. Two islands lie within it, Strömsborg and Helgeandsholmen. It is one of two natural waterways between Mälaren and the Baltic sea, the other being Söderström south...
and Mälaren
Mälaren
Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...
") and says it occupied an area of 2.944 square ell
Ell
An ell , is a unit of measurement, approximating the length of a man's arm.Several national forms existed, with different lengths, includingthe Scottish ell ,the Flemish ell ,the French ell...
s (kv.alnar) in size. In a letter in 1647 Queen Christina
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
donates the island to her half-brother referring to it as den lille holmen eller skäret ("the small islet or skerry"). Most likely the cliffs didn't have an official name at the time and as they certainly didn't appear in city planning records, the queen's donation of these insignificant cliffs to her half-brother arguably was a carefully studied insult. They did, nevertheless, remain unexplored during her era, and it is possible the skerry shared the fate of many other structures at this time, and had a popular name "not suitable for print". Of the approximately 35 maps of Stockholm produced during the 17th century only one includes Strömsborg but provides very little information.
The merchant Berge Olofson Ström bought the island in 1740, and, according to a description from 1896 (G. Nordensvan), ten years later he had a stone house ("suitable in size") surrounded by lime trees built on the island. Whenever the small island received its present name, it must have been in reference both to Strömmen
Stockholms ström
Stockholms ström, also known as Strömmen, in Stockholm is the innermost part of Saltsjön, a bay of the Baltic Sea. It continues into Lake Mälaren through Norrström.-See also:*Geography of Stockholm*Rivers of Sweden...
("The Stream"), the stream surrounding it, and to the merchant "Ström" and his building with the appearance of a castle (Ströms-borg, "Stream's Castle"). Further, Nordensvan tells the island has been the site for several restaurants, skittle alleys, and public baths, and "...was a small idyllic spot, particularly at that time, when no bridge led to the islet, but one had to travel by rowing boat with a motley woman from Dalarna
Dalarna
', English exonym: Dalecarlia, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. Another English language form established in literature is the Dales. Places involving the element Dalecarlia exist in the United States....
at the oars."
Arthur Sjögren, mostly remembered for his illustrations of the novels of August Strindberg
August Strindberg
Johan August Strindberg was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg's career spanned four decades, during which time he wrote over 60 plays and more than 30 works of fiction, autobiography,...
, also studied the history of Strömsborg in great detail. In a report in 1926, he concluded that the present circular-shaped island dates back to the end of the 19th century and described the island before this as a thickly wooded and irregularly shaped island with a set of various small buildings; a charmingly picturesque view that saw its fate finally sealed with the demolition of the main building in 1895. The idyll described by these two men vanished with the construction of the current palace in 1895-97, designed by builder Johan Andersson and the architect Claes Grundström and then redesigned by architect Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg was a Swedish architect who is most famous for designing Stockholm City Hall. He is the most famous architect within the so-called "national romanticist" movement in Sweden...
1929-30.
Even before this, the isolated idyll was tied closer to the rest of the city with the construction of Vasabron
Vasabron
Vasabron is a bridge over Norrström in central Stockholm, Sweden connecting Norrmalm to Gamla stan, the old city....
in 1872-78, and what remained thereafter definitely disappeared with the construction of Centralbron
Centralbron
Centralbron is one of the major traffic routes in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the northern district Norrmalm to the southern Södermalm....
1961-67.
The islet remained the HQ of Swedish Sports Confederation
Swedish Sports Confederation
The Swedish Sports Confederation is the umbrella organisation of the Swedish sports movement. Through its member organisations, it has three million members in 22 000 clubs. The Confederation was formed in 1903...
for many years, while the ground floor was being used as a restaurant. In 1953 a renowned dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
was built on the island, while the upper floors were used for offices until 1994. Since 1996 the entire building has been restored to its pre-1953 appearance, but used exclusively for offices. The island is currently devoted entirely to the offices of International IDEA, a non-profit inter-governmental organization.