Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.05.2012, Side 34

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The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 5 — 2012 This is the sixth entry in a fascinating series of articles Gerður Jónsdóttir is writing
about Reykjavík's neighbourhoods! Log on to www.grapevine.is to read the rest!
Laugardalur—“hot spring valley”—
was so-named due to the preva-
lence of, yes, hot springs in the area.
Some people even say that the name
Reykjavík—“Smoky Bay”—derives
from the hot steam that rose from
these springs. For centuries people
went there to bathe and swim, but
mostly it was women doing laundry.
Things changed, however, in 1928-
1930 when hot water was piped to
a number of buildings in Reykjavík.
This was the beginning of a massive
operation to heat every house in
Reykjavík with geothermal water—
which also caused the hot springs
in the area to reduce tremendously.
When people think of Laugardalur to-
day, they most likely think of its swim-
ming pool, Laugardalslaug, which was
built in 1968. However, there is a whole
lot more to the neighbourhood...
At the beginning of the twentieth
century, Laugardalur was mostly grass
and bedrock. One of the farms, which
dates back to the first settlement
around 870, was located on Laugarnes,
a peninsula that is today preserved by
The Archaeological Heritage Agency
of Iceland. It was home to Hallgerður
Langbrók, the notorious femme fatale of
the Icelandic sagas. Not only will you find
her grave there, but you will also find the
only natural seashore on the north coast
of Reykjavík.
A MENTAL HOSPITAL LEADS
THE WAy
Iceland’s first mental hospital, Klep-
pur, was built near Laugarnes in 1907.
It was originally far away from the city
centre, but after Reykjavík’s population
increased dramatically during World War
II, the demand for land could no longer
be ignored. As the city had already built
roads and sewage systems and imple-
mented a bus system in the area, it made
sense to construct around this existing
infrastructure rather than build every-
thing from scratch.
This policy caused the city to grow
in an isolated neighbourhood outside
the city centre. Residents felt like the
neighbourhood was so far away in 1947
that they believed they should have their
own spokesperson in the city council,
according to an article published in the
newspaper Heimskringla at the time.
Residents were very worried about be-
ing forgotten and left out when it came
to council matters.
IMPORTED HOUSES TO ’60S
MANSIONS
Laugardalur did not remain isolated for
long. The demand for housing was great-
er than most had anticipated, and the
area was mostly built over two decades,
from the end of the World War II to 1960.
If you’re into architecture from this
era, Laugardalur is the prime Reykja-
vík place to explore it. You will find ev-
erything from imported ready-made
wooden houses from Sweden or Finland
to eleven-floor, Le Corbusier influenced
apartment-buildings to spacious private
modernist houses built in the ’60s—build-
ings that were a design breakthrough
in Reykjavík at the time they were con-
structed.
A FINANCIAL DISTRICT IS BORN
Although most of the houses date from
1945 to 1960, newer and older houses
can also be found in the neighbourhood.
Reykjavík’s ‘financial district,’ Borgartún,
is home to the newest buildings. This dis-
trict grew fast in the 2000s and reached
a peak in 2008, just before the economic
collapse. Today you can still find many
banks located in the district along with
other businesses and offices, like some
of the City of Reykjavík's departments.
In Borgartún you will also find one
of the city’s oldest houses, Höfði. It was
built in 1909 for a French consul and has
served a series of residents—famous
artists, politicians, and the mysterious
Höfði Ghost. In 1958, the city of Reykja-
vík bought it and restored it to its origi-
nal glory. Höfði secured its status as the
most famous house in Reykjavík when
Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan
met there for The Reykjavík Summit
meeting in October of 1986.
ICELAND’S PROTESTOR
In addition to being home to a famous
house, Laugardalur is home to Iceland’s
most famous protestor, Helgi Hóseas-
son, who lived in the neighbourhood and
dedicated much of his life to protest-
ing there until he died in 2009. He was
given the informal title, “Iceland’s protes-
tor,” after a documentary was produced
about him and his views in 2003.
Helgi's protest started in 1962 when
the church would not invalidate his bap-
tism and confirmation like he wished, but
his protests weren’t exclusively against
the church. He also protested against
the inequality promoted by the Icelandic
government and, in his last years, the
Icelandic governmental support of the
Iraq war. A statue of Helgi can be found
on the corner of Langholtsvegur and
Holtsvegur, where he often stood carry-
ing message bearing signs.
LAUGARDALUR PARK
The neighbourhood shares its name with
a big green park in the area, but the park
and the name are not as old as you might
think. A couple of years after Central
Park opened in New York City in 1871,
Sigurður Guðmundsson—a designer of
the Icelandic National Costume and a
specialist in Icelandic culture and histo-
ry—suggested that Laugardalur be made
a park for the residents of Reykjavík. He
saw the spot as a perfect place for walks
and picnicking. The idea took 72 years
to be realised, but today it has become
the park Sigurður foresaw. There you can
find the aforementioned swimming pool,
camping facilities, a gym, an ice-skating
rink, an amusement park, a zoo and bo-
tanical gardens.
Thus Laugardalur has attractions of
all sorts, including a rich history, inter-
esting architecture, and great possibili-
ties for outdoor activities. There is even
something that attracted 17 owls to take
up residence in the park—a rare find in
Reykjavík, as owls are fairly new settlers
in Iceland.
Words
Gerður Jónsdóttir
Photography
Alísa Kalyanova
Reykjavík | City planning
Laugardalur: Not just Home To A Swimming Pool
How Reykjavík got to be what it is, part VI
“You will find everything from imported ready-
made wooden houses from Sweden or Finland to
eleven-f loor, Le Corbusier inf luenced apartment-
buildings to spacious private modernist houses
built in the ’60s”