ARKITEKTEN ERNST TORULF Ett västsvenskt perspektiv på det tidiga 1900-talets svenska arkitektur

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore and analyse the life and work of the Swedish architect Ernst Torulf (1872-1936). The study attempts to answer questions related to Torulf’s architecture, his ideology and sources of inspiration, analyse the connection between his professional career and personal life, and place his work into a wider historical context. All in all, the study seeks to create a broad and nuanced portrait of an architect and his architecture. Ernst Torulf was one of the most prominent Swedish architects of his time. His architectural production was broad in character in extensive in scope. His work spanned over a long time period as well as over a relatively large geographical area. His main base of work was Western Sweden and the city of Gothenburg, where he for over three decades in many ways played a dominant role. Torulf, along with several other architects of his time who mainly worked in regions away from the Swedish capital, have not yet received a given place in the history of Swedish architecture and his work remain largely unexplored. Seeing as Torulf, through his establishment in Gothenburg, chose a different career path than several of his elite architect colleagues in Stockholm, he breaks with the established Swedish architectural canon. A canon where almost all important architectural development in Sweden is attributed to the capital and its architecture. This thesis seeks to present the early 20th century architecture of Sweden from a west Swedish perspective. The common features of Torulf's architecture are clearly distinguishable. During his 40-year career, he smoothly adapted his architecture to the various shifts in style that occurred. From the eclectic medievalism of the 1890’s, through the national romanticism of the early 1900’s and the subsequent neoclassicism, to the early modernism of the 1930’s. The essential architectural features however, remained the same throughout his long career. Modest and rationally designed buildings, mostly of brick and granite, in which the architectural emphasises were firmly placed on the buildings' powerful, disciplined volumes and the inherent qualities of the building materials used. Torulf’s buildings are thus representative of a modern architecture firmly rooted in classical convention and traditional handicraft.