University of Bergen. Town and Gown Interwoven. by Skald forlag

The threads binding these buildings are evident in these stories describing both the history of the university and that of Bergen. Readers are invited into houses representing the diversity of architectural history in Bergen; houses that encompass a variety of styles and functions – all selected for their significance with regard to Norway’s culture and heritage.

ISBN 978-82-7959-296-9

SKALD

9 788279 592969

UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN

THE UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN is the only city university in Norway. Town and gown stand side by side, with the university area interwoven with historical Bergen at Nygårdshøyden which stretches from Florida in the south to Dragefjellet in the north.

University of Bergen TOWN AND GOWN INTERWOVEN

Published by the University of Bergen in collaboration with Skald Publishers GR APHIC DESIGN: Øystein Vidnes FONT: Bennet Text by Richard Lipton & Dala Moa av Paul Barnes PA PE R: Munken Lynx 130 g PR INT: Livonia © SKALD 2018 E-PO ST: forlag@skald.no www.skald.no ISBN 978-82-7959-296-9 Published with support from Riksantikvaren

Contents WELCOME TO THE UNIVERSITY RIGHT IN THE CENTRE OF OUR CITY / 7 THE CITY UNIVERSITY – A NATIONAL AND CULTURAL TREASURE / 8 THE CITY UNIVERSITY IS CREATED / 15 THE OLDEST MUSEUM BUILDING IN NORWAY NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM / 31 MUSEUM GARDEN / 45 THE GARDENER’S HOUSE / 48 GLASSHOUSE / 52 MUSÉPLASSEN / 58 A VETERAN AT SYDNESHAUGEN FASTINGS MINDE / 61 RAISING THE FLAG FOR THE MUSEUM LANGES GATE 3 / 71 LANGES GATE 1 / 75 ONE SCHOOL WITH SEVERAL FUNCTIONS SYDNESHAUGEN SCHOOL / 79 A PORTAL TO THE ACADEMIC LANDSCAPE HISTORICAL MUSEUM / 89 LANDMARK TO THE SOUTH GEOPHYSICAL INSTITUTE / 101 NUCLEAR PHYSICS LABORATORY / 110 THE GARDENS / 112 NEW BUILDING ON OVERTIME UNIVERSITY LIBRARY / 115

THE GIANT IN ALLÉGATEN SCIENCE BUILDING / 125 PERMANENT POSITION IN RESIDENTIAL AREA CHRISTIES GATE 20 / 137 MUSÉPLASSEN 1 / 144 CHRISTIES GATE 19, CHRISTIES GATE 17, CHRISTIES GATE 15, ROSENBERGSGATEN 39 / 153 VILLAVEIEN 9 / 163 PARKVEIEN 9 / 168 SYDNESHAUGEN DISTRICT: SYDNESPLASSEN 12 OG 13, ØYSTEINS GATE 1, ØYSTEINS GATE 3, DOKKEVEIEN 2B, SYDNESHAUGEN 4,8,10,12 OG 14 / 174 UIB TAKES OVER VACANT BUILDINGS IN THE CITY CENTRE SOFIE LINDSTRØM HOUSE / 185 DRAGEFJELLET SCHOOL / 188 NYGÅRD SCHOOL / 194 BJØRN CHRISTIANSEN HOUSE – FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY / 200 CATALOGUE: LISTED BUILDINGS / 206 SOURCES & ENDNOTES / 208

Welcome to the University Right in the Centre of Our City! T H E U N I V ER S I T Y O F B ERG E N is the proud administrator of 38 listed buildings, where 34 of the buildings are located in a unique university area stretching along Nygårdshøyden from Florida to the south until Dragefjellet in the north. 15 000 students and 3600 staff have their day-to-day workplaces in distinguished old buildings and in functional, modern buildings close to central residential areas and busy city streets. In the middle of the area is the Natural History Museum, the oldest museum building in Norway, with the University Aula, the contemporary reception hall where academia meets the local community. This book will lead you through the history of the university to the listed UiB-buildings. You will be invited to study magnificent façades, look through the doors into exquisite vestibules, decorated stairwells and other beautiful, listed rooms which have been adapted to modern usage at the university, by working closely with the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Why not use the book as your guide around the university? Hope you enjoy your journey and your reading!

Dag Rune Olsen RECTOR

Academic procession at the opening of the academic year in August 2018.

FOREWORD

The City University – A National and Cultural Treasure O V E R T H E L A S T decade, comprehensive work has been undertaken to preserve state-owned buildings in Norway, a process which on 18 June 2014 culminated in the listing of the 34 buildings presented in this book. This is part of The National Preservation Plan for the Ministry of Education and Research with these buildings having been granted status as monuments with cultural and national significance. The National Preservation Plan also comprises a National History of the Public Sector, showing how the state has solved the community aspect of this academic field. This history defines the University of Bergen as Norway’s only city university. A decision was made by Bergen City Council in 1964 that the University of Bergen should remain in the city centre. Academic life should take place at Nygårdshøyden and build on the legacy of Bergen Museum. In University of Bergen, Town and Gown Interwoven, this picture of a university which has emerged from the residential area of Nygårdshøyden, is explored in words and pictures. The intention of the state listings of property was to secure, preserve, display and convey the significance of individual buildings and the sector, whilst also protecting the reciprocal links between the actual building and its purpose. That is, a listing where both the fabric of the buildings and the building as part of a greater context are to be preserved.

As one stage of the process of preserving the buildings of the University of Bergen, conservation plans have been drawn up for each building. These documents are primarily intended for the Estates and Facilities Management Division of the University. The focus of these plans is to highlight the cultural monuments and how these should be managed correctly with regard to their heritage. However, prior to such a stage, the buildings had to be analysed and the history of changes had to be supplemented with historical documentation from the archives. This material has been gathered and processed for a wider audience in this book, written by Eva Røyrane and illustrated by Thomas Vindal Christensen. The buildings where we would like to invite the readers, represent a diversity of Bergen’s architectural history, spanning architectural styles and purposes. The threads binding these buildings have been made visible through the stories of both the history of the university and of the city. The city university is the result of a long co-existence between the city and the university. This book explains the origins of this co-existence in dealing with city and museum visions (later university visions), how the city made space for the university and how the university has collaborated with and been challenged by the city’s history in its building plans.

For it is in the relationship between the city and the university that the city university achieves a clear identity. A natural prerequisite of being a city university is that it is located in a city, but also that the university has a city to serve. In the relationship between the university and further afield, the identity is re-interpreted and re-established with the listed buildings in the city centre being monuments treasured by both city and university. The monuments of the university have both a material and an intangible character. The city university is an area in a part of the city with a rich and varied architectural history. However, the city university also represents a narrative about the co-existence of the city and the university. The stories in this book may not represent every voice. Nonetheless, the goal of the editorial team has been to convey correlations and complexity. Every building has its own unique history, which for many started long before the establishment of the university in 1946. However, today they all bear part of the university’s history. When Eva Røyrane depicts how the university is architecturally interwoven with the fabric of the city which was gradually formed in Nygårdshøyden from the late 18th century, it is the history of the university which is the warp thread of the fabric. The city’s history and stories about particular families in Bergen are elements which add colour and pattern to the woven

fabric. This book chronicles the history dating from Muséplassen (Museum Square) with the statue of Christie at the epicentre. However, the history of these buildings belongs to many more than the present owners and managers. The chronology of the presentation of the buildings indicates how Bergen Museum, and later the University, have partially grown into existing environments, and partially created and expanded a university area. The editorial team thank UiB and the Estate and Facilities Management Division for their faith in us in the creation this book, Anders Haaland and Siri Skjold Lexau for constructive reading of the manuscript, Per Jonas Nordhagen for inspiration and his generous sharing of his knowledge and Sigmund Grønmo who with the Museum Project once again places the identity of the city university on the agenda. Thank you to the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage which is involved in the daily challenges of the University with regard to reconciling preservation and practical usage. The willingness to address these often naturally opposing interests is of the utmost importance if the University of Bergen is to be able to call itself a city university in the future.

Åse Tveitnes Editor

FOREWORD

NEAR THE MUSEUM, 1865: A crowd has gathered along the road and on the grass by the unfinished museum building. It is 7 July 1865. The International Fisheries Exhibition in Bergen is about to open. Visitors have arrived from all over the world. Country folk in their Sunday best stand shoulder to shoulder with the upper class wearing top hats by the stone wall. When the procession has passed, they can all queue up to see the exhibitions of fishing tools, boats and fish products. The first whale skeleton is waiting in the new building of Bergen Museum, but the museum does not officially open until 1867. The brand new avenue, Christies gate, ends at the entrance of the new museum, and is still far from urban. On the contrary, on both sides of the gravel cart track there are solid stone walls capped with turf. However, the tenant farmers on the smaller farms of Berge, Midttun, North and South Haugen, are aware that the city is creeping westwards, that their farmyards, meadows and fields will soon be plots for a new urban district.

Xylography from Illustreret Nyhedsblad, 27 August 1865. University Museum in Bergen.

The Oldest Museum Building in Norway NATU R A L H I STORY M US E U M 186 5/ 1898 MUS ÉP LA S S E N 3 W IT H T H E C E N TR A L position it commands on today’s campus, the Natural History Museum is an icon of the University of Bergen. The so-called Animal Museum has been the source of excitement for the people of Bergen of all ages for several generations. With the University Aula in the south wing, this building has become the festival hall of the west of Norway, an important meeting between the UiB and the local community. This monumental building and the scientific work undertaken here under the auspices of Bergen Museum, laid the foundation for the university whose establishment was agreed in 1946. The position of the new building up at Nygårdshøyden was a major reason for the university remaining in the city centre. The Natural History Museum is a classic museum building of the late 19th century, symmetrically designed with a raised central section. No expense was spared for the project in terms of exclusive materials and exquisite craftsmanship. Bergen Museum had an acute need for new premises for its numerous collections. A rocky outcrop at Rakkerhaugen was blasted away and Lake Rakkerdammen was refilled. The new building was designed by the Danish architect, Johan Henrik Nebelong. He wanted to decorate the museum with soapstone window frames, but the budget could not cover this expense for a project which had grown larger and more expensive than first envisaged. Nebelong reluctantly agreed to install iron framed windows instead. The museum was used for the International Fisheries Exhibition in 1865, but was not ready for occupation until 1867. There was space for collections of natural and cultural historical

significance, a library and workshops. When the building was extended at both ends in 1898, there was more room for scholarly activity. Now more emphasis was made on teaching and the museum invited guests to enlightening academic meetings in the large, new lecture hall. The library gained new, spacious rooms in the southern wing and had extended opening hours. The exterior side wings from 1898 were practically a copy of the original building. In addition, Hans Jacob Sparre, the architect commissioned to design the extension, ensured that the museum was decorated with a soapstone balustrade to the south above a rune hall with a vaulted arcade in carved gneiss. Only ten to fifteen years after the extension, the premises of Bergen Museum started becoming cramped. New contributions to both the cultural and scientific collections were constantly being donated. A new building for the cultural collection was requested, launched and realised, but it was not until 1927 that the cultural and heritage collections were moved to the other side of the botanical gardens. Increasing amounts of books at the museum soon filled up most of the south wing. The need for a new library was more than precarious when all the books could finally move across the road to the university library in 1961, together with the students who used the library as a place of work. The exterior of the Natural History Museum is largely unchanged, the majority of the windows and doors are original. Inside the building there are many original features and architectural details, as well as interiors dating back to the opening of the museum, especially in the exhibition rooms.

MUSÉPLASSEN 3

Natural History Museum as seen from MusĂŠhagen Garden with the south wing closest.

The south wing underwent extensive restoration in 1965 in order to provide a more suitable working environment for museum employees. During this restoration, the museum lost its large lecture hall. The scholarly tradition of this historic room has now been continued in the new University Aula opened in 2015. During 2014 and 2015, the south wing underwent comprehensive internal refurbishment. All the old internal constructions were demolished and replaced with a new, independent supporting system cast in concrete. The external walls and windows are original. New columns and whitewashed walls in the University Aula create cultural history continuity. Once again the University had opened a room for academics and the general public to meet. From 2016 to 2018, a full renovation and rehabilitation of the central building and the north wing were carried out. In the vestibule, some of the surfaces are as they were in 1930. During renovation, all the surfaces in this room were restored. The vestibule is the most decorated room in the museum, with its multi-coloured tiled floor, painted marbling of the walls and stencilled mouldings. The main staircase was built around 1900, but the stairwell has many original constructive elements from 1865. A new lift in the vestibule now links all floors from the basement to the tower room. Thus, the oldest museum building in Norway is accessible to all. The restored second-floor exhibition rooms have original display cases of great historical value. When the Natural History Museum reopens to the public in 2019, visitors to this part of the building will recognise the old museum. Many of the animals that were stuffed and placed in display cases here over a century ago will be displayed once more. The whale skeleton will hang from the ceiling in the whale hall as it has done since the building was opened for the Fisheries Exhibition of 1865. Bergenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s animal museum will continue conveying knowledge to future generations. The tower room at the top of the central building is one of the most special rooms in the museum and preserving it is of prime importance. Here many original surfaces are intact. This room was first used to exhibit paintings, later for zoological collections. In connection with this reallocation, a gallery was built here, and later another was added. The tower room has been closed to the public for a long time, but has reopened after the renovations.

MUSĂ&#x2030;PLASSEN 3

The University Aula was established as part of the renovations of the south wing in 2015. The entire end wall of this room is decorated with a monumental piece of textile art by Kari Dyrdal. ‘Ornament’ creates a sense of grandeur in the room. The aula is furnished with the ‘Lui’ chair by Hallgeir Homstvedt who won a design competition held by UiB. The surfaces in the aula are characterised by high-quality materials which are continued on the floor below where there is a café and reception space, as well as in the basement where there are toilets and a cloakroom. Kari Dyrdal has also decorated the new glass lift at this end of the building. Photography on this page: Anders Dyrdal.

MUSÉPLASSEN 3

Restoration of the vestibule, stairwell and whale hall is complete and the oďŹ&#x192;cial opening is expected in 2019.

MUSÃ&#x2030;PLASSEN 3

G LA S S H O US E 1 9 00 THE IDEA OF raising a glass hothouse in the new museum garden came from one of the museum’s wealthiest well-wishers, Conrad Mohr, the corn merchant. On a business trip in Germany, he was impressed when visiting a hothouse. He believed that such a building would be ideal for Bergen Museum. Mohr contacted a German producer and planned the building before presenting it as a gift to the museum’s management. The director was not only presented with the glasshouse, Mohr also wanted to pay for the necessary plants. The building arrived in Bergen as a flat-pack. The museum ordered the plants. The glasshouse was erected in 1900 and was an impressive sight when it opened the following year. ‘The building consists exclusively of iron and glass, and it looks wonderful in its beautiful surroundings on the hill behind the museum,’ 20 Aftenposten, a national broadsheet, wrote about its appearance. The glasshouse originally had three rooms; the ten-metre high dome-shaped palm house, a heated lower room on one side and a cold room on the other. When it was opened, a variety of palms were in place, most purchased abroad, as well as a more than 90-year-old palm which was a gift from the University of Oslo. The Aftenposten journalist from Oslo was also impressed by a rich collection of orchids, purchased in Brussels. ‘It is a collection the like of which is not even seen in Tøienhaven (Oslo Botanical Garden). It consists of over 90 different species, a few of which are currently in bloom.’ 21 The newspaper goes on to inform that Bergen City Council had taken on responsibility for the maintenance and operating costs of the glasshouse, and concludes with the comprehensive comment: ‘Bergen Museum is a growing institution; which is addressing more and more areas and attracting greater attention annually. The reason for this is primarily the skilled and energetic management as well as the interest shown by the citizens of Bergen.’ 22 Until the 1980s, there was still life in some of the old palms. Today the plant house remains divided into three climate zones, with palms in the central section. In the humid zone to the south, there are smaller plants such as orchids; to the north, the house has a section for succulents and carnivorous plants. Little remains of the original features, but the main shape is the same and beneath the palms, the atmosphere has not changed significantly over the last century. The glasshouse is important in the narrative of the Museum Garden. It has been listed as part of a valuable cultural environment, but due to safety fears, the glasshouse has been closed for a while. UiB is renovating the building with a partial return to its original splendour.

MUSÃ&#x2030;PLASSEN 3

In the glasshouse, original features are evident such as floor tiles, gratings and doors.

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THE MANAGEMENT OF BERGEN MUSEUM had hoped to have the new building for the heritage collections ready for the centenary celebrations in 1925. This did not happen. The museum was still unfinished for the centenary. Nevertheless, King Haakon was taken on a tour of the building. The official opening took place on 25 April, the foundation day of the museum, in 1927. People arrived in their droves. Many came to have a look at the new building and the collections which were open to the public every Sunday in the summer, from 1 July, and for an entrance fee on weekdays. However, there was not enough money to heat the building in the winter. It is ‘difficult being here and seeing the museum dead and frozen, and having to turn away people who have travelled from far and wide to see it, those heading off on fishing expeditions or returning, young men in their seaman’s clothes, small groups…’ 24 Haakon Shetelig, the manager wrote to his colleague, Brøgger in Oslo.

King Haakon and Director Carl Fredrik Kolderup outside the Historical Museum 25 April 1925.

A Portal To The Academic Landscape H I STO RIC A L M US E U M 1 927 H A AKON S H ET EL IGS PLAS S 1 0 I N 1 91 5, T H E M A NA G E M E N T at Bergen Museum issued a warning. Just seventeen years after the museum had had an extension of two wings added, the collections had grown so large and space had become so limited that carrying out sound scientific work and conveying knowledge were difficult. A new building was needed for the heritage collections. Fundraising quickly resulted in a tidy sum. However, those working with cultural history had to be patient. It was only sometime after Egill Reimers won the architecture competition in 1917 to design a future university area at Fastings Minde, that the building project gained some momentum. Professors Haakon Shetelig and Einar Lexow travelled to Stockholm, Gothenberg and Kristiania to study their museum buildings. When Reimers won the commission to design the new museum, he and Shetelig went on a new study trip. The architect had the professors’ plans for the new building as the starting point for his work on this building which became a prominent landmark in the Bergen university landscape. The monumental, castle-like building towers at the top and furthest to the southwest on Sydneshaugen. With this new museum building, Bergen Museum established its position properly in the area which was now reserved for teaching purposes. With its position in the landscape and its imposing tower the Historical Museum still defines this part of the campus. With the tower on the Geophysical Institute which was completed in 1928, Reimers created a visual link between two of the monumental buildings of Bergen Museum in the north and south.

Two owls guard the entrance to the university area from the west. They were designed and placed at the foot of the tower of the Historical Museum by the architect. He paid attention to the old routes of the city when planning the university. In this way, he linked the new institution to the historical landscape. Thus the architect played his part in creating the identity of the city university. The Historical Museum is described as one of Norway’s most beautiful museums. The site is a carefully considered piece of art where the architect has drawn all the details. The building consists of two wings, one to the east and a west wing which finishes with an eight-storey tower. The painted façade of the wall is original, as are most of the windows and doors. The original balconies are intact, as is the spire. Decorative wrought iron gratings and soapstone details around the windows, many vaulted arches, and the main staircase linking all the floors, combine to emphasise the amazing quality based on medieval architecture. There are beautiful details, exquisite materials and accomplished craftsmanship, all typical of the architecture of Egill Reimers. The plan was that the museum site was to have another perpendicular wing, to the east. This would have entailed demolishing the block of flats at Joachim Frieles gate 1, but the finances of Bergen Museum prevented this. After the museum purchased the estate in 1910, a variety of institutions moved their offices here. This building is not listed, but is a good representative for the numerous exquisite brick tenements of Nygårdshøyden.

HAAKON SHETELIGS PLASS 10

The Historical Museum is situated in the city environment, with public thoroughfares around and through the building.

HAAKON SHETELIGS PLASS 10

The beautifully shaped Crypt is the meeting place in the museum. The picture from the Egypt Exhibition shows a copy of the lid of a mummyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sarcophagus.

HAAKON SHETELIGS PLASS 10

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K N UT FÆ G RI HOUS E 1 885 VI L LAV EIEN 9 AS EARLY AS 1960, UiB purchased this exquisite, richly decorated villa, which since 1996 has been used by UiB for entertaining visitors and is a historic building in many ways. The Norwegian Oil Adventure started here in 1963, when Professor Markvad Sellevoll and his colleagues at UiB’s Seismological Centre, which at the time was based at the villa, proved that oil and gas could be found on the Continental Shelf. Villaveien 9 lies furthest west in the new fashionable residential area that emerged between Nygård Park and the museum. The park company sold plots of building land in the newly established Villaveien to finance what was to become an attractive leisure facility for the new residents up at Nygårdshøyden as well as the rest of Bergen. In the same year as Nygård Park opened, shipowner Joachim E. Lehmkuhl (father of Kristofer D. Lehmkuhl) moved into the residence, thus becoming the closest neighbour to the north of the park. His property was one of the largest in the area. He had a garden established in the same style as the park on the other side of the wrought iron fencing. Architect Schak Bull designed the villa with a tower, two loggias and façades richly decorated with ionic columns,

pilasters, ornamentation and pronounced cornicing. The villa is described as a pinnacle of housing architecture in the Renaissance Revival style of the 1880s. The restored interior evident today is from 1905, when architect Bull rebuilt it for a new owner who acquired expensively decorated reception rooms. The vestibule was decorated in the art nouveau style. In 1933, the villa was redesigned to house two dwellings. From 1961, the Seismological Station of UiB started using the whole house as offices for professors and post-graduate students. A seismograph, which used to be at the Natural History Museum, was installed in the cellar. When the Science Building was ready in 1977, the Seismological Centre moved there and the audio-visual department of UiB took over Villaveien 9. At the same time as Villaveien 9 was renovated in the 1990s, two homes were created on the first floor. Today these flats are rented out to guest speakers. The rest of the house is used for meetings and entertainment. In 2001, the villa was named Knut Fægris House, after the UiB professor considered one of the leading botanists in the world.

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ISBN 978-82-7959-296-9

SKALD

9 788279 592969

UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN

University of Bergen TOWN AND GOWN INTERWOVEN