Today, Mälarvarvet is Stockholm’s oldest shipyard and it maintains, repairs, and rebuilds ships. Nybygget (The New Building, 1876): – workers’ apartments, now apartments
Stenhuset (The Stone House, 1856): workers’ housing, now apartments Gula Raden (The Yellow Row, which is now red, 1834): workers’ housing, now apartments Today, some of the historical buildings are still standing:įördärvet (The Ruin-named after the pub, 1762): workers’ housing, then pub, now apartments At one time, the area around the shipyard was much more densely developed, but many of the buildings were demolished over time. Over time, workshops, storage sheds, workers’ housing, a smithy, an office, and various other buildings were built around the shipyard. The city rented out the eastern end of the island, without cost, to a new ship-building enterprise, Mälarvarvet. Quite simply, there just weren’t enough cargo ships to bring in all the goods that the city desired, and there wasn’t enough seaside land to store all the ships in the winter. Stockholm was expanding so quickly in the 1600’s that the shipping industry couldn’t keep up. Today, the house is hard to distinguish from the surrounding prison buildings which were added over time. In keeping with the stately nature of the house, a linden allé led from the bridge toward Södermalm to the house.Īlstavik as shown on Gripenhielm’s Mälarkarta, 1688.Īfter Jochum’s death, Alstavik Malmgård was passed down through the family until the city bought the entire complex and converted it into a prison in 1724.Īlstavik's facade from a 1681 drawing. It was even included in Gripenhielm’s Mälarkarta, a map of Lake Mälaren with accompanying illustrations of important landmarks that Gripenhielm created for the king. We do not know who the architect was for the main house, but it was large and stately enough to attract a lot of attention. Supporting the buildings were a farm, a kitchen garden, a fish farm, and a cherry orchard. Over twenty years, he built a farm from scratch, including a palace-like main house which was finished in 1670, a mill, a brew house, a horse barn, a livestock barn, and a smithy. Its owner, Jochum Ahlstedt, was a successful brewer who rented the land from the city starting in 1657. While I am not aware of any further discussion about what to do with the island, I would not be surprised if a debate sprang up in the near future.Īlstavik is much like any of Stockholm’s other Malmgårds from the 1600’s (see Malmgårdar). While parts of the island are beautiful and nearly wild, I get a sense that there is an uneasy balance between public and private functions on the island. The giant Västerbron (West Bridge) divides the island into two, further disintegrating the island’s park-like atmosphere. Today, Långholmen is mostly a park, although it is sprinkled with private buildings including several residences, artists’ workshops, a hotel, a couple of restaurants, and a school.
After the prison closed in 1975, the island’s future was uncertain-would it be developed or would it be preserved as a park?
The prison was expanded several times during its 250 year history, but already in the 1870’s, the city slowly began converting the island to a public park. The shipyard was founded in 1685 and is still in use as a shipyard today! Eventually, the city bought back Jochum Ahlstedt’s farm and converted it into a prison. The eastern end of the island was leased (without cost) for the foundation of Mälarvarvet, a ship-building yard. Īfter the island was donated from the crown to the city of Stockholm in 1647, the central part of the island was leased as a Malmgård (suburban farm) to Jochum Ahlstedt. The old and "new" tollhouses from the 16- and 1700's. With time, Långholmen’s strategic location was no longer used by armies and navies but was instead utilized as a toll station where all of the boats on their way into Stockholm from the countryside were stopped and charged tolls for their cargoes (see Stockholm’s Tollhouses, #12 Långholmen Sjötull). In modern history, the undertakings on Långholmen have always had a civic focus. For centuries, it was the last uninhabited stop on the way into the city, and was thus used as a strategic layover point for several important battles in the 1400’s and 1500’s. Långholmen, or “Long Island,” is just to the north of Södermalm in Riddarfjärden, the bay leading to Stockholm from the extensive inland Lake Mälaren.