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Gustavsberg, Sweden, Europe |
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As a product of housing need and philanthropy Gustavsberg, named after a large porcelain factory in the main town on Värmdö, a municipality in the Stockholm County, came into being because of the prosperous porcelain industry. Since the foundation of the porcelain factory in 1825, the community of factory workers with an increasing demand of social services developed parallel to the expansion of the industry. Gradually, it grew into a town-in-the-making and photos from the 1870s suggest scenic townscapes of the heyday of Industrialism.
A few years after the Saltsjö Agreement (1938), the big compromise between representatives of employers and workers, at the same time as social consciousness and attention towards Stockholms disastrous housing conditions grew, the factory opened up for new experiments. Founded by the factory, new well-built dwellings for the workers were constructed in the 1940s. Gustavsberg was planned in a hierarchical structure with the foundry proprietor, the salaried employees and the workers housing clearly identifiable and zoned in enclaves.
Amongst others, the Gustavsberg centre houses small shops, banks, a department store, post office, welfare centre, liquor store, cinema, theatre, restaurants and food stands. Also, it is close to Gustavsberg Harbour and it is connected to Stockholm by a steamboat and a bus from Slussen.
While the production of household porcelain has reached a much smaller level, the manufacturing of products like toilets and sinks still occupies 400 people. Today, the total population of Gustavsberg is 9,682 (2005) and of Värmdö is 28,000 in the winter, tripling in the summer: the Ceramic Center has become a great tourist attraction and well-to-do Stockholmers began construction of summerhouses in the area from around 1850.
source: Signe Sophie Boeggild |
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2008 - 2024 disclaimer
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