Harstad Primary School is located on the street St. Olvasgate, on a slope leading up from Harstad's town centre. It is situated in an area with villas and older wooden buildings, along with Harstad Middle School (built in the 1960s) located directly below. Harstad Primary School was opened in 1918 and had 615 students by 1922. It is uncertain whether the architect Sigurd Bjørhovde (1858-1959) designed the school or the architect Lars Solberg (1858-1921), who was his teacher at the Trondheim Technical Educational Institution. The school may have also been a combined project collaborated on by both architects.

The building is elongated, rectangular, three-storied and terminates with a slightly bent mansard roof. The building's façades are symmetric with side projections and two entrances, which are marked with imitation ashlars and bevelled pediments. Corners on the building are emphasised with imitation ashlars. In terms of style the school building has features from both the Neo Baroque and Jugendstil, but primarily from the Neo Baroque. A symmetric quality distinguishes the building, use of imitation ashlars and the slightly bent mansard roof. Its influences from the Jugendstil are notably the windows, such as the oval window as well as a combination of small and large panes.

1918

School

Brickwork

brickwork

school

masard roof

projection

neo-baroque

art nouveau

primary school

Eidnes, Asbjørn, Byggeskikk i Harstad, Harstad, 1997.

Steinnes, Kristian, Ved egne krefter - Harstads historie 1904-2004, Harstad, 2003, chap. 3, "Sentrum blir til."