Blackeberg pictures in context

[drakkar]

I see the apartment has a gas stove - how common are those in Sweden?

[metoo]

I see the apartment has a gas stove - how common are those in Sweden?

Not very common. Sweden (like Norway) is very rich in hydroelectric power, so most kitchens are equipped with electric stoves. But in some places, natural gas is available, and there you may find gas stoves. Also, major cities used to have a city gas network, supplied from gas works. Nowadays, these gas networks distribute natural gas.

I believe that Blackeberg was originally built to use the Stockholm gas network, and that is the reason that you find gas stoves here nowadays.

[metoo]

Here is a floor plan that I have guesstimated from the floor plan in the ad, and from the pictures below.

It seems Oskar's apartment is two rooms and a kitchen, while Eli's is three rooms and a kitchen. This real-life configuration seems to conflict with the novel one, I get the impression that Eli's apartment is identical to Oskar's, two rooms and a kitchen. I guess the novel reality isn't exactly the real one, JAL apparently used some author's freedom here... For better envisioning the novel layout of Eli's apartment, think it to be a mirror image of Oskar's.

The placement of the kitchens is based on the ventilation openings in the façade, brownish small spots in the picture below. These ventilate the cupboards in the kitchen marked "SK", meaning skafferi, i.e. larder; I have the same arrangement in my kitchen in Lund. The positions of the bathrooms are given by the small windows.

Obviously, the exact placement of walls and doors is unknown to me, the plan only can give a general feeling.

Below a screen shot of a street view of the house that I used to figure out the layout. Oskar's apartment is marked blue, Eli's red.



Finally a bird's eye view of the yard side of the house, Oskar's still blue, Eli's red.

[metoo]

I was reading LTROI and found another place that I might illustrate. When Oskar cut his hand, O&E were just outside a matkällare in Swedish, literally a "food cellar", though I've no idea how it might be translated. Anyway, the place is described as small, just large enough to allow Oskar and Eli to squeeze in. As it happens, we've got such food cellars in my house. They're meant for storing food such as potatoes, root vegetables, and preserves.

The food cellars are compartments in a separate room, behind the door visible here.



Here's the inside of the food cellar. Oskar and Eli hid inside one of these, two twelve-year old kids would be able to sit on the floor and close the door.

[drakkar]

Thanks! This is just fantastic!

[a_contemplative_life]

The basement layout was kind of a mystery to me for a long time. It's fun to finally start attaching some real-life images to the text. Thanks!

[Casper]

Metoo, thanks for all the awesome information! Very fascinating!

[rgh]

All of this authentic information is helping to better visualize the events and further blur the line between reality and fantasy.

Thanks!

[Lucibel]

All of this authentic information is helping to better visualize the events and further blur the line between reality and fantasy.

I second that. Awesome posts metoo! Much appreciated

[Nik-W]

Hey - thanks for this forum, and this thread in particular. I was passing through Stockholm last week and just had to take a trip out to Blackeberg. I had a good walk around (aided by the maps in this thread) whilst trying not to stand out. I managed to see a few places, though I took a wrong turning and missed a few parts - I also didn't feel entirely comfortable going into the centre of the courtyard in case someone asked what I was doing there! I also decided that taking lots of pictures would also make me stand out. However, it was pretty awesome just to walk around and see some of the sights from the film/book - with not being able to see the courtyard, seeing the underpass was particularly awesome. I fully intend to go back to Stockholm in the future and whilst there take another trip around Blackeberg! It is a really nice little town and somewhere I could see myself living!