Nobelpalatset, Unbuilt palace project in Östermalm, Stockholm, Sweden
Nobelpalatset was a planned memorial building for Alfred Nobel in what is now Nobelparken in Östermalm, Stockholm. Ferdinand Boberg designed it between 1906 and 1911, with a ceremonial hall initially for 1,200 people, later proposed for up to 2,000. It was to rise from a rock ledge about 20 metres above Djurgårdsbrunnsviken, but the project was never built.
The Nobel Foundation's transitional statutes provided for an administrative building with a ceremonial hall, funded by a building fund fed by interest and royalties from Nobel's patents. In 1906 Ferdinand Boberg was commissioned to study the project on the Skogsinstitut plot at Ladugårdsberget. His 1907 proposal seated 1,200; in January 1912 the board rejected it as economically unviable, and in 1913 the foundation bought Sturegatan 14 instead.
When Boberg's drawings were exhibited in autumn 1911, critics split: some praised a monumental home for the Nobel Foundation, while Ragnar Östberg and August Brunius objected that the design was too international. The dispute fed the so-called Boberg feud, and the Nobel Committee withdrew from the project in December 1913.
The site is centrally located in Östermalm with good access by public transport and walking routes. Visitors should know that the area today consists mainly of a park, as the original building was never constructed.
Although the building was never constructed, the project lives on through Nobelparken park and Nobelgatan street in Östermalm. These place names preserve the memory of Boberg's ambitious memorial design.
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