Matchstick Palace

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Tändstickspalatset
Building Information
Name	Tändstickspalatset
Location	Stockholm
Country	Sweden
Architect	Ivar Tengbom
Client	Swedish Match (Ivar Kreuger)
Completion Date	1928
Cost	3,3 million SEK

The Matchstick Palace (Swedish: Tändstickspalatset) is an office building on 15, Västra Trädgårdsgatan in central Stockholm, Sweden, just west of the park Kungsträdgården.

The building was commissioned by the "Match King" Ivar Kreuger as the headquarters of Svenska Tändsticks AB (Swedish Match). It was completed in 1928 at a cost of SEK 3,3 million, a huge sum at the time, only four years before the infamous Kreuger Crash. The palace remained Swedish Match's headquarters until 1991 when it was sold to Telia, who later sold it to businessman Muhammed Al-Amoundi for SEK 450 million.^[1]

Behind the latticework and Corinthian columns of the main portico is the horse shoe-shaped inner courtyard on which the building is centred. The façades of the ground floor are dressed in marble from Kolmården and the courtyard is furnished with sculptures by Carl Milles, including the fountain. Inside the portico are two flight of stairs leading up to the quarters of the board of directors, where is the circle segment-shaped board meeting room with paintings by Isaac Grünewald. On the opposite side of the courtyard, the first two floors are taken up by the session room. The space between the building and the park were kept void until the 1970s.^[2]

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Johansson, Bengt O H (1999). "Norra innerstaden", Guide till Stockholms arkitektur, 2nd ed., Stockholm: Arkitektur Förlag AB, 68. ISBN 91 86050-41-9. 
• Stugart, Martin (2006-02-02). Vad kan du berätta om Tändstickspalatset? (Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Retrieved on 2008-02-02.