The Match Palace

Ivar Kreuger’s head office for the Swedish Match company is one of the most elegant buildings of Swedish 1920s classicism. The façade is austere and almost undecorated, but the courtyard and interiors are filled with art. The building reflects a time when Swedish capital reached out into the world.

Ivar Kreuger built up a worldwide match monopoly in the 1920s. He commissioned Ivar Tengbom to design the head office, which was built in 1926–1928 near Kungsträdgården. Tengbom had at the same time designed the Concert Hall and was one of the leading architects of Swedish classicism. Kreuger wanted a building that showed the company’s strength without being showy.

The building has an austere rendered façade in a warm colour, with regular windows and little decoration. Facing the street is a portal, and behind it lies a courtyard with Carl Milles’s bronze sculpture Diana. The interiors, by contrast, are very rich, with marble, precious woods and works of art. Isaac Grünewald painted the banqueting hall.

Kreuger shot himself in Paris in 1932 when his empire collapsed, and the Kreuger Crash became one of the great financial crises. The building was subsequently used by the company and other tenants. The Match Palace is one of the best examples of Nordic Classicism, in which simplified classical forms and rich craftsmanship were combined in a modern building.