1927 is the year when Svenska Shell, then still called Svensk-Engelska Mineralolje AB, moved its headquarters to one of Stockholm’s most distinctive buildings, a recently constructed concave-shaped office-residential building with a gas station at Birger Jarlsgatan 64.
In the same year, Olof Palme and Roger Moore were born, the education agency began providing equal rights to education regardless of gender, and Charles Lindbergh flew solo across the Atlantic from New York to Paris in 33 hours and 30 minutes.
The concave building that appeared on Birger Jarlsgatan in Stockholm includes both residential spaces and offices, as well as a gas station. Construction was completed in 1927, and Svenska Shell (then Svensk-Engelska Mineralolje AB) moved its headquarters to one of Stockholm’s most characteristic districts. On the ground floor was one of the 50 gas stations the company operated in Sweden, and the price of gasoline was 25 öre per liter.
The construction of the building took two years, and several changes were made to the project during the construction period (1925–1927). For example, the number of floors was increased from three to six following a royal resolution that allowed deviations from the building charter and the Stockholm City Council’s construction regulations in this regard.
When the building was completed in 1927, the ground floor housed shops and the gas station, office spaces were on the 1st and 3rd floors, apartments of various sizes were on the 4th and 5th floors, and the top floor contained a dining hall for employees.
The developer of the building was Svensk-Engelska Mineralolje AB, and the architectural firm of Albin Stark was the company that designed the somewhat unusual design. However, the true author of the building is not entirely clear. All the drawings submitted to the Building Committee are signed by Albin Stark, but there is much evidence that most of the work was done by Fredrik Lidvall (Fedor Lindvall).
Fredrik Lidvall received his architectural education at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. He spent more than 20 successful years in that city before the Swedish-born Fredrik was forced to emigrate during the revolution and arrived in Stockholm in 1917. By then, he was considered one of the leading architects of Saint Petersburg and regarded as one of the creators of the Petersburg Art Nouveau style. He began working at Albin Stark’s office in 1920 and played a significant role there, especially when Stark was in China.
Albin Stark founded and led the architectural firm Albin Stark, and he is behind some well-known buildings in Stockholm, including the Chinese Theatre (1928) and Östra Station (1932, together with Erik Lallerstedt). He also spent some time in China, where the Chinese government commissioned him to rebuild large halls in the Forbidden City into parliamentary buildings.
Sources:
https://www.wallenstam.se/sv/stadsutveckling/birger-jarlsgatan-64/
https://www.florarkitektur.se/birgerjarlsgatan
