Landala Egnahem
Gothenburg, Sweden
High up in the Landala Mountains in Gothenburg is the peaceful and green area of Landala Egnahem. It is Gothenburg's first and architecturally most consistently completed private home area. It consists of terraced houses and villas in brown and grey wood, and three large estate blocks with governor's houses in calm pastel colors with large leafy courtyards.
| Garden City Type: | Mixed (housing association / municipality / other) |
| Country: | Sweden |
| City: | Gothenburg |
| Years of construction: |
1913 Start construction 1922 Completion
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| Initiator/client: | Gothenburg home ownership association |
| Architect or related: |
Albert Lilienberg Albert Lilienberg (Ronneby, 1879 - Stockholm, 1967) was a Swedish urban planner. He was the first city engineer (city planning manager) for Gothenburg in 1907–1927 and in 1928–1944 he was city planning director in Stockholm. Carl Westman Ernst Carl Westman (Uppsala, 1866 - Stockholm, 1936) was a Swedish architect, painter and |
| Heritage status: | Yes |
| Explanation: | Landala Egnahem has been singled out as 'national interest for the conservation of the cultural environment'. |
| General condition of Garden City: | Good condition |
General description
This villa area is located on a high mountain plateau south of the city center of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is one of Sweden's first private home areas and was built between 1913 and 1922. The city plan was drawn up by city engineer Albert Lilienberg, with buildings designed by architect Carl Westman. The site for construction was suggested for its "extremely healthy and pleasant location".
Malte Erichs designed two types of town houses around Furuplatsen. They got the names professorslängan ('professor's row') and ingenjörslängan ('engineers' row'), according to the professions of the respective developers.
The houses were meant for working families, but when they became too expensive and were instead bought by the middle class, governor's houses were built to the north for the workers in the late 1920s in a classicist style.
When the area was completed, it contained 63 properties, such as detached houses , semi-detached houses and terraced houses for 105 families.
Furuplatsen (photo: Marcel Westhoff, 2022)
Architecture / Urban planning
Landala Egnahem has curved streets that open into a couple of open spaces, Egnahemsplatsen, the pine-covered Furuplatsen, and a small recreational park with a pond. The latter was placed between de villas and the governor's houses. The neighbourhood was intended as a purely residential area, considering the proximity of shops in already existing areas.
The neighbourhood with wooden villas was built with front gardens, low fences and walls. The homes are approximately 100 square meters in four house types, single houses and semi-detached houses with gable or mansard roof. The owners were given two colours to choose from: gray and brown.
