MEA館, Commercial building in Norrmalm, Stockholm, Sweden
MEA-huset is a commercial building at Hamngatan 15 by Norrmalmstorg in central Stockholm. It was built in 1881 to designs by Oskar Erikson in Neo-Renaissance style for Wilhelm Davidson, known as the "Hasselback King". After a renovation completed in 2011, only the street facade remains of the original structure.
The building was completed in 1881 as an example of late 19th-century commercial architecture in central Stockholm. It was constructed during a period of rapid urban growth when the city's shopping districts were taking on their modern form.
The name comes from Militärekiperings AB, founded in 1883 by Sven Palme to supply cheaper uniforms to the military. The range soon widened and the company bought the building, turning it into a fashion department store. The store later expanded into the Bäckströmska house on Kungsträdgårdsgatan.
MEA-huset faces Norrmalmstorg at Hamngatan 15, where Hamngatan meets Kungsträdgårdsgatan, and the Kungsträdgården metro entrance is right by the square. The 2011 renovation left only the street facade of the original building, so look for it at street level. The upper floors hold offices and shops rather than the old department store.
The building's official property designation is Styrpinnen 19, a name visitors rarely notice. After the 2000s renovation of its 7,000 square metres, completed in 2011, only the street facade of the original 1881 building remained. Stockholm City Museum has given it blue classification, meaning exceptionally high cultural-historical value.
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