Villa Living

The urban and suburban villa emerged as the housing choice for the affluent classes from the latter half of the 19th century. A major landmark moment was the construction of the Royal Palace in Christiania (now Oslo) which was constructed in 1848, which introduced a new style of architecture, and became a model for other villa-style houses. It was designed by Danish-born architect, Hans Ditlev Franciscus Linstow and built using modern building materials, prefabricated elements and importing craftsmen from abroad.

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This new style of villa was the “Swiss style” – they had long roofs, reaching over the porches or verandas, so you could sit out in the afternoon for your tea. This idea of having a veranda or a porch or a garden became especially fashionable, as the emerging idea was that sitting in nature and fresh air was good for mental, physical and moral health. So a lot of villas would be built along a fjord, or overlooking a waterbody or amongst a grove of pine trees.

At this time there were also new industrial advances in glass production, so villas had huge windows. The entire construction would be spacious, airy, open. As opposed to French villas, which typically had rooms leading into each other (without corridors), Swiss style villas were arranged around a central hall. According to one source, “this gave new opportunities of running a more specialised household, where the functional aspects were developed, as well as stimulating the idea of having special rooms for the various activities. The new plan was instrumental in the development of the idea of separating private and public spaces in our homes.”

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Source: Bjørn Vidar Johansen, "Country living in a suburb: The aspect of health in 19th century Norwegian villa architecture," Michael 2005, 2: 244–51