Villa Lyran

Villa Lyran, 2019

Villa Lyran (German: the Villa Lyra ) is a summer residence built in 1867 with a view of the Mälaren , near what was then known as the Leopolds lyra , in what is now the Stockholm district of Bredäng. The Villa Lyra was built by Carl and Fredrika Limnell . The building is run by the Stockholm City Museum in the highest municipal building protection class, "of great cultural and historical value". The area was placed under nature protection in 2006.

architecture

Villa Lyra, garden side, 2019

Villa Lyra, seaside, 2015

The drawings are based on Georg Theodor Chiewitz 's model villa för mindre familj , which was published in a specialist journal in 1850.

The villa was built in the Swiss style with some remarkable constructions, such as the tower roof that can be raised and lowered. On the lake side, a large veranda runs along the house. The facade consists of a large number of fretwork details. Inside, the walls are clad with wooden panels and the ceilings are decorated with stucco. In the large salon there is a fireplace decorated with sculptures. The interior has remained largely unchanged since it was built.

In a forest clearing on the property there is a gold-plated lyre that is somewhat reminiscent of a theater decoration. The lyre was rebuilt in 1941 in the same place.

history

The property was named after a wooden lyre that Carl Gustaf af Leopold had erected there in honor of Carl Michael Bellman . Carl and Fredrika Limnell, who spent a summer stay at Jakobsberg gård nearby, liked the place so much that they bought a heritable building right over fifty years to build a summer house on the property. Construction began in 1867.

In the summer months of the 1870s and 1880s, the Limnell couple gathered celebrities from literature, music and the visual arts on their property for their festivals in honor of the lyre ( Kolfej på lyra ). Jenny Lind , Gunnar Wennerberg , Victoria Benedictsson , the poet Carl Snoilsky , Carl David af Wirsén , the composer Emil Sjögren , the singer Kristina Nilsson de Casa Miranda , Selma Lagerlöf , Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Henrik Ibsen were just some of those who attended Lyra. Henrik Ibsen even wrote a few stanzas about the house in the poem "Ballonbrev til en svensk dame". On these occasions Fredrika Limnell is said to have read from the still unpublished work Vallfart och vandringsår by the then unknown Verner von Heidenstam . Lyran became so famous that Oscar II even made a visit.

The writer Lotten Dahlgren stayed at Lyran many times and in 1912 wrote the book Lyran about life in the villa.

In autumn and winter, the Limnells made their salon in "Gustaf Horns palats", a residential building at Fredsgatan 2 in Stockholm, available for their literary and musical gatherings.

After Fredrika Limnell's death in 1892, her son from his first marriage, Conservatory Wilhelm Svedbom, inherited the house. The house stood empty for a while and later served as a boarding school, restaurant and party hall. The house was used as a film set in the 1950s. Lyran radio and television programs were broadcast between 1959 and 1961.

Historical pictures

Carl Abraham Limnell
Fredrika Limnell
Unknown woman on the porch
Original lyre
Villa Lyran on the garden side
Veranda for Mälaren

today

In connection with the planning of the new Bredäng district in 1962, the property was bought by the City of Stockholm. During this time Lyran fell into disrepair. In 1965 the city of Stockholm had a restaurant built in and a pastry shop set up. Apartments were built on the upper floor. Lyran was then rented to the Levi Pethrus Foundation , which ran the catering business until 1995. Lyran has been operated by private customers as a pastry shop with restaurant since 1996 and is now a well-known excursion destination.