"Norges Bank" (2 of 3)
Description
Klingenberg, begge i Oslo, i tråd med retningslinjene i gjenreisingens byplan. Lange var en av landets fremste reguleringsarkitekter. Han sto blant annet bak Sinsenbyen i Oslo og tegnet en rekke leie- og forretningsgårder i Oslo og ellers i landet. Av hans mest kjente arbeider er Majorstuhuset fra 1928-32.
The bank’s entrance doors are made of teak, with wrought iron bars on which are stylized scenes from business life and the region. The other doors and window frames are similarly made of teak, and the windows are expensively finished with copper fittings. Some of these were removed during the renovation of the building during the 1980s.
The interior spaces have undergone a number of changes, but the representative sections of the building have maintained their original character in appearance. The external use of costly materials has been extended to the bank’s two porches and vestibule on the ground floor. Here the walls are finished in pink marble from Fauske and the floors are made partly of stone and parquet. The doors and lead-glass windows are made of teak. From the vestibule the main, broad staircase with marble steps and banisters of oxidized brass leads to the banking hall up on the first floor. The main hall was the bank’s most important space and is spread over two floors, with the second floor standing out as a mezzanine surrounding the space on three sides. However, the banking hall has been rebuilt and the original interior decoration removed, probably as a result of building works in the 1980s. The structure of the banking hall has remained intact and the same is true of the earlier district office, which has retained its interior decoration, and the meeting room with the same decoration and original light fittings.
The building was raised on the same site as where the old Norges Bank burned down in 1944. The new building was designed by the architects Kristoffer Lange and Klingenberg &
The interior spaces have undergone a number of changes, but the representative sections of the building have maintained their original character in appearance. The external use of costly materials has been extended to the bank’s two porches and vestibule on the ground floor. Here the walls are finished in pink marble from Fauske and the floors are made partly of stone and parquet. The doors and lead-glass windows are made of teak. From the vestibule the main, broad staircase with marble steps and banisters of oxidized brass leads to the banking hall up on the first floor. The main hall was the bank’s most important space and is spread over two floors, with the second floor standing out as a mezzanine surrounding the space on three sides. However, the banking hall has been rebuilt and the original interior decoration removed, probably as a result of building works in the 1980s. The structure of the banking hall has remained intact and the same is true of the earlier district office, which has retained its interior decoration, and the meeting room with the same decoration and original light fittings.
The building was raised on the same site as where the old Norges Bank burned down in 1944. The new building was designed by the architects Kristoffer Lange and Klingenberg &
Klingenberg, both in Oslo, according to the guidelines of the reconstruction town plan. Lange was one of the country’s foremost planning architects. He was behind the Sinsenbyen housing development in Oslo, amongst other things, and designed a series of housing and business properties in Oslo and elsewhere in Norway. One of his best-known works is the Majorstuhuset from 1928-1932.
