During the first half of the twentieth century, Stamsund was one of the largest and most thriving fishing villages in Lofoten. If you travel to Stamsund by sea today, the fishing station owner’s property is one of the first things you see. In local parlance it goes by the name of “Gubbegården” (the Old Man’s Place). This stately house almost dominates the steamship quay, where it is positioned between the quay and the former guano factory.

The building is robust and massive, emphasizing the fishing station owner’s social position in the village. This monumental villa and company property is typical of its time, constructed in a blend of neo-classical style and elements of Jugendstil. Facing the quayside and the sea, the house looks like a fairly enclosed company property. The side facing the garden looks like a more open villa. The estate is built of stuccoed concrete. The rectangular building has a total of four storeys, the first storey consisting of a foundation level built of pointed natural stonework. The façade has been polished smooth and painted in a soft green colour. The building is crowned with a large slate gable roof, with a steep downward slope.

Sigurd Brænne was the architect for this building. He also designed Stamsund Church and the local manor of that time.

The Johansen merchant house was founded by a woman from Stamsund, Ida Maria Isaksen, and Carl Magnus Johansen from Trøndelag, during the 1870s. In 1902 their son Julius Marencius Heiberg Johansen (born 1868) began to purchase property in the outskirts of Stamsund, thus laying the foundations for industrialization on a grand scale. Julius earned the nickname of “Gubben” (the Old Man) and “the Tsar”

he was also called J. M. Most of the money that J. M. Johansen earned was ploughed back into the company business of various kinds. One obvious exception was his private property, which was strategically positioned by the steamship quay and the factory site.

Around the turn of the century, the fishing station owner’s property was taken over by Aker ASA, which uses it today as a residence for holidays and entertaining.

1935

Sigurd Brænne

J.M. Johansen

Villa, fishing station owner’s estate

Concrete, stucco, veneer

residence

concrete

plaster

veneer

villa

neo-classicism

art nouveau:

Bottolfsen, Øystein: Lofoten og Vesterålens historie 1700-1837, bind 3, Lofoten 1995.
Berg, Per: Hol bygdebok, Bodø 1971.
Stavseth, Reidar: Handelshuset J.M. Johansen gjennom 75 år, Trondheim 1951.
Johansen, Elisabeth: Gamle Stamsund – fiskeværsfragmenter, Stamsund 2004.