Puneet Varma (Editor)

Matchstick Palace

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Town or city
  
Stockholm

Completed
  
1928

Cost
  
33 million SEK (1928)

Country
  
Sweden

Opened
  
1928

Architect
  
Ivar Tengbom

Matchstick Palace

Client
  
Swedish Match (Ivar Kreuger)

Address
  
Västra Trädgårdsgatan 15, 111 53 Stockholm, Sweden

Similar
  
Stockholm Concert Hall, Sverigehuset, Liljevalchs konsthall, Waldemarsudde, Gröna Lund

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The Matchstick Palace (Swedish: Tändstickspalatset) is an office building on Västra Trädgårdsgatan in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. It was commissioned by the "Match King" Ivar Kreuger as the headquarters of Svenska Tändsticks AB (Swedish Match). It was designed by architect, Ivar Tengbom and built by Kreuger & Toll Construction AB during 1929-31. The palace remained Swedish Match's office until 1991 when it was sold to Telia, who later sold it to businessman Muhammed Al-Amoundi for SEK 450 million. Swedish Match moved their headquarter back to Tändstickspalatset, to one of the floors, 1 September 2010. The Matchstick Palace was headquarter for Swedish Match in the beginning of the 1930s, 1972-1991, and from 2010 onward.

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 the sculpture Diana fountain I by Carl Milles. 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.

References

Matchstick Palace Wikipedia