The hunting lodge on Hyltenäs kulle

George Seaton, a wealthy merchant in Göteborg, held a deep love for nature, hunting, and fishing. For years, he searched for the perfect location to build his dream hunting lodge. His search ended in 1915 at Hyltenäs kulle in Öxnevalla socken, now in Marks commune. Seaton did not only buy the hill but also the surrounding lands. There was no access road to the hill where the lodge was to be built, so the first construction was a 400-meter-long road that took around four months to complete.

The design for the lodge was created by architect Karl Severin Hansson from Göteborg, and the construction began in 1915. The building was completed in 1916, and approximately 100 to 200 workers were involved in the project. To this day, blueprints of the lodge cannot be found despite extensive searching. While the exact size of the house is not fully known, a measurement from 1991 found the exterior dimensions to be 41 x 47 meters. The building was two stories high. The ground floor was built of brick, and the upper floor was built of sandstone in a cross-beam style.

The roof was tiled and covered with tiles. The courtyard was 18 x 18 square meters in size. It was determined after 1991 measurements that there were around 35 rooms in the hunting lodge. The hunting lodge was completed in early 1917 but burned down in December 1923. The fire likely started due to a crack in the chimney from the fireplace in Seaton's bedroom, which was confirmed by an inspection of the site on December 19, 1923. The ruins of the hunting lodge still stand on the hill, and the remaining structures and garden are open to the public as a tourist attraction.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons