With its flamboyant façade facing the city park, the telegraph building in Bergen has become a familiar part of the cityscape in this the capital of western Norway. The building wa ...
With its flamboyant façade facing the city park, the telegraph building in Bergen has become a familiar part of the cityscape in this the capital of western Norway. The building was finished in 1927 and received two years later the A.C. Houen’s fund’s prize for excellence in architecture.
The construction work started in 1924 at a time when Norwegian architecture was drawn between the “real” and indigenous materials and the elegance of the Gregorian style. This tug of war led to a synthesis enveloping both the elegant and the rustic. According to Henrik v. Achen, dr.art and professor at the University of Bergen (Fortidsvern 4/97), the telegraph building in Bergen stands out as possibly Norway’s finest example of neo-Gregorian “colonial style” architecture.
The telegraph hall in the telegraph building in Bergen was a Hall with a capital H. Employees felt as if this was the hub of all of Telegrafverket’s activities. We may gain an insight into how it was to work here through Finn Jahren’s book series, “Glimt fra Televerks-kulturen”, where, among others, Trond Fond was one of the interviewees.
Fond recounts of working in the Hall in 1952:
“The first impression of my new work place was a great hall with strange, small trolleys moving on rails up under the ceiling. They went all around the hall and dropped telegrams down glass funnels to the various work stations. This system was called Hallerbanen, and was fed by the personnel out in the distribution group. They received their stacks of telegrams from the desk. Additionally, there were all the transit-telegrams which were re-distributed after a necessary detour via Bergen. There was a conveyor belt leading from the telegram telephone and from the various expeditors’ desks out to the distribution. These manual aid systems were not by any means silent. There was a steady hum and clicking-sound, and you’d only notice the noise when the afternoon watch turned them off as the traffic slowed down.”
The building was designed by the architects, Berner and Kielland. The beautiful facades, in particular the front façade facing the park, are intact and still display the original symbols, window grilles and permanent wall lamps. The public reception hall is also an impressive piece of architecture with its curved glass ceiling, frescoes and even a specially designed floor lamp.
The size of the building is 1520 m2.
In 1997 the telegraph building was sold by Telenor to a private company for the sum of 82 million NOK.
About the object
aboutBergen telegrafbygning er tegnet av arkitektene Berner og Kielland. Det er brukt klinkerbrent teglstein med hvite marmordetaljeringer. Hovedfasaden mot parken er intakt, og har fremdeles originale symboler, vindusgitter og veggfaste utelamper (1997).
Med sin prangende fasade ut mot byparken er Telegrafbygningen i Bergen blitt en selvfølgelig del av bybildet i Vestlandets hovedstad. Telegrafsalen i første etasje hadde små skinnegående vogner oppe i taket. Vognene ble ført rundt i hele salen og slapp telegrammer ned i glasstrakter til de enkelte ekspedisjonsplassene. Det var Hallerbanen som ble matet av betjeningen ute i fordelingsgruppen. De fikk sine telegrammer fra skranken, og transitt-telegrammer som ble videreekspedert etter en nødvendig omvei til Bergen. Fra telegramtelefonen og fra de øvrige ekspedisjonsplassene gikk transportbånd langs den ene veggen ut til fordelingen. Disse manuelle hjelpeordningene var slett ikke lydløse. Det var en stadig dur og klikking, og en belastende støy for de ansatte.
Telegrafbygningen ble solgt til et privat selskap i 1997 for 82 millioner kroner.
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