S11

In September 1890 Sveinn Ólafsson was allocated a plot on the west side of Smiðjustíg, north of the proposed Steinstaðastíg. In 1893 he built a single storey wooden house. According to drawings from 1906 the two story wooden house, that now occupies the site, was built against the north façade of the earlier house.

In 1916 the house was in the ownership of bacteriologist Gisli Gudmundsson and he renovated and extended it with a lean-to and new basement steps on the west side. The same year Sanitas, Iceland's first soft-drinks factory, started production in the basement and manufactured their products there until 1923. The owner also imported and sold pianos from the house. The basement was then used as a factory and the garden shed as office and store by the Noí Siríus chocolate company until 1933 when the house was occupied by the furniture manufacturer and upholsterer Húsgögn Co.

When the present owners purchased the house it had been in a state of decay for some time. The aim of the renovation was to reinstate the house to its former simple, but honest, granduer. The timber frame has been surgically repaired and reclad with corrugated iron sheet manufactued locally using original rollers. The window frames have been reparied or replaced and fitted with new frame-in-frame glazing. The lean-to and back stairs which were on the point of collapse have been completley rebuilt and the surviving chimney has been structurally stengthened and topped with a tall extension pipe.

Architects : Studio Granda
Structural & Environmental Engineers : Viðsjá
General contractor : SS Verktaka

on site 10.10.11
on site 24.06.11
on site 03.08.10