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Tomtehuset (The Gnome House)

A 19th-century home, embellished with gnomes.

Gothenburg, Sweden

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Tomtehuset   Rolf Broberg
Close-up of the gnomes at work   Rolf Broberg
Close-up of the gnomes at work   Rolf Broberg
Tomtehuset in the 1890’s   Dahllöf & Hedlund
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About

A house built for the publisher S. A. Hedlund in 1890 still stands in the middle of Vasastan. It was declared a historic building in 1982, securing its future.

Painted on the house are gnomes who perform the jobs of the first residents of the house. Look closely and you will find the creatures printing books, practicing architecture and photography. Today these motifs are classics, but at the time they were very modern. Viktor Rydberg had just published his poem "Tomten" and Jenny Nyström’s paintings of gnomes had made the figures very popular characters in the late 1800s.

There are still people living on the upper floors, but even though the residents have changed since its inauguration, the gnomes are still performing the same tasks on the facade.

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Published

October 21, 2025

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