Click the photo for more about Centrumhuset and its architect.

Centrumhuset, a retail and office complex which fills an entire block at the intersection of Sveavägen and Kungsgatan in Stockholm, was designed in 1929 by the Swedish architect Cyrillus Johansson [1884-1959].

The nine story structure was built with a restaurant and indoor shopping mall along continental lines. The long, concave façade fronting Kungsgatan was made possible by an amendment to the 1919 town plan while the concave cut-off corner belongs to an earlier plan which the architect tried in vain to have changed. The inner framework of the building is a system of iron columns.

Decidedly modern, the architectural vocabulary has affinities with the expressionism of Germany and the Netherlands. The lines of uniform rectangular windows, with their surrounds of glazed profile brick, emphasize the building's horizontality. This is reinforced by the heavily protruding eaves of two retracted roof stories -- a somewhat Chinese touch -- and by the structure of the brickwork, with its thick, horizontal pointing. The window surrounds are humorously decorated with figurative terra cotta reliefs.

Warehouse spaces in the building are reached by means of an underground access road running its full length, alleviating congestion on the surrounding streets.

Photo ©Roger Shepherd