Gathenhielmska huset, 18th-century wooden townhouse in Majorna, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Gathenhielmska huset is a two-storey timber house with a steep hipped roof, built between 1743 and 1747 at Stigbergstorget 7. Its street facade is clad in smooth vertical grey-painted boards divided by heavy pilasters between each window axis, giving it the look of a stone building. Inside, the ground floor holds the Kungsrummet, furnished with pieces from different family generations, and the adjoining Versaillessalongen with a tiled stove from the house's construction period.
Lars Gathenhielm received the land from Karl XII in 1717 as reward for his privateering; after his death in 1718 it passed to his widow Ingela and then to their son Anders. In 1737 it was sold to convoy commissioner Johan Hansson Busck, brother-in-law of Gathenhielm, who had the house built between 1743 and 1747. On 10 July 1943 it became Sweden's first building protected under the 1942 cultural heritage law.
The house takes its name from Lars Gathenhielm, a Swedish navy commander and royal privateer who received the land here from Karl XII in 1717; he died in 1718, before the present building existed. The house was probably built by his sister Anna Thalena Gathe and her husband, convoy commissioner Johan Hansson Busck. Inside, the Kungsrummet refers to Karl XII, who is said never to have visited the house in its current form.
The house stands at Stigbergstorget 7 in Majorna, in the first block of Gatenhjelm, and has been owned by the City of Gothenburg since 1987; it contains a 160-square-metre residence. The interior is not a public museum, so visits depend on the city's use of the building and on arranged openings. The surrounding Gathenhielm cultural reserve can be walked at any time.
On 10 July 1943 the house became the first building in Sweden protected under the 1942 law on culturally remarkable buildings, after owner Vera Tham applied to the National Heritage Board. The 1920s restoration by conservator Johan Nilsson uncovered light-coloured paintings that had been overpainted or hidden behind wallpaper.
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