Apoteket Storken, Historic pharmacy building in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden.
Apoteket Storken occupies the corner of Storgatan 28 and Styrmansgatan 24, in a house built 1897–1899 by architect and builder Hans Jacob Hallström to his own drawings. The pharmacy's 1899 interior is by cabinetmaker Carl Fredrik Allard, made by carpenter Petter Nilsson in ebony, jacaranda and rosewood. The style is Neo-Renaissance with Neo-Gothic elements; the glass ceiling, painted by German artist Fritz Rosenthal, shows allegories of health, illness, life and death, and the walls imitate Kolmården marble.
Established in 1898 with Ingemar Kerfstedt as the first license holder, the pharmacy opened on April 1st and has operated continuously for over 125 years, maintaining its original purpose throughout Sweden's pharmaceutical history.
The interior preserves original 1899 furnishings designed by Carl Fredrik Allard, featuring ebony, jacaranda, and rosewood materials, while allegorical ceiling paintings by Fritz Rosenthal symbolize health, illness, life, and death in pharmaceutical practice.
The pharmacy sits at the corner of Storgatan 28 and Styrmansgatan 24 on Östermalm, with the entrance under the gilded stork. Inside, the 1899 fittings share the sales room with computers and cash registers, so the counter area is a working dispensary rather than a museum room. The building also holds one of Sweden's earliest electric lifts.
The gilded stork above the entrance, holding a snake in its beak, was put up on 1 April 1898, the day the pharmacy opened. The name Storken was rare among Swedish pharmacies: in 2005 only five carried it. The house also keeps one of Sweden's first electric lifts.
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