Halland is a small province, situated between two dominant geographical personalities. South of Halland lies the prosperous and strategically situated province of Skåne, while the barren rocks of the province of Bohuslän mark its northern borders.

Halland is a miniature version of Sweden: vast forests and open landscapes, long coastlines and deep lakes, quiet countryside but also a proximity to big cities like Copenhagen and Oslo.

The region is well-known not only for its beautiful nature but also for its art history and gastronomy.

On a peninsula in its northern part, just south of Gothenburg and in almost complete isolation from the outside world, lies one of its most famous attractions, Tjolöholms Slott.

Many of its visitors are surprised to find that one of the foremost examples of British interior design is to be found in a Swedish castle. The reason is that James Fredrik and Blanche Dickson, who once commissioned the castle, belonged to a British-Swedish family, based in nearby Gothenburg but with close economic, cultural and social ties to London.

After her husband’s death, Blanche Dickson took on the full responsibility of the continued building process, and in dialogue with the architect Lars Israel Wahlman, she created one of the strangest and most fascinating buildings in northern Europe.

Tjolöholms Slott (namned “Hobogblin” by Wahlman in his winning contribution to the architectural contest) is at the same time welcoming and introverted, somber and bright, British and Swedish.

The estate holds many clues to the bourgeois lifestyle of the couple – the oriental décor of the smoking room is a memento from James Fredrik’s travel to Constantinople in 1870, while the deep care of the employees is part of a legacy from Blanche’s British upbringing, when workers’ rights had been the focus of intense discussions.

Throughout her life, she carried with her the Victorian motto, “there is always room for improvement”, which also marked her collaboration with Wahlman. On a daily basis during several years, she would write him to ask for updates or to adjust previous plans.

Tjolöholm was Wahlman’s thus far greatest project and held a number of critical challenges. Among other things, space needed to be created for the enormous painting “The Queen of Saba” by Julius Kronberg, which the central hall more or less had to be constructed around, as it otherwise would not fit.

The mansion is built in Tudor style, which the Dicksons at times specified as Scottish Elizabethan style, at other times as Scottish renaissance.

The Tudor style is based on the late Gothic aesthetics, facilitated by an increased knowledge of advanced building construction, in combination with the addition of a number of decorative elements. In particular, this affected the design of windows and the arched, vaulted doorways which combines the gothic and the romantic, and that has become almost synonymous with the style.

Queen Elizabeth did not herself commission any new buildings during her reign, but so did many of the aristocrats of her court, who built large private mansions for themselves, often inspired by Dutch architecture and its decorative geometrical patterns. High ends, towers and clusters of chimneys were particularly popular.

In his proposal, Wahlman presented an impressive mansion with bay windows and many protruding parts, which created a playful and dynamic impression, as well as making the internal layout almost impossible to understand from the outside.

The house was divided into different spheres for the gentleman’s family, guests, servants and children, all interconnected through a complicated, labyrinth-like plan. The many steps and shifting levels added to the confusion of the visitors, who did not always understand even which floor they were on.

Wahlman was also deeply inspired by the “honesty” and authenticity proposed by the Arts & Crafts-movement. It proposed that the layout should be designed according to how the building was to be used by its residents. Materials should be authentic and natural, and should not try to resemble or emulate something that they were not.

The preference was for the natural, wild and untamed, as well as for the simple, folkloristic and organic style.

The movement was organized as a kind of resistance to industrial mass-production, and should also be understood in this larger context; in opposition to the emerging, modern society that at the time reshaped both society and cities, as well as rural areas.

One of its most well-known advocates was John Ruskin, who prophesized that capitalism and industrialism would destroy nature. As an alternative to the industrial development, he suggested that nature should be the inspiration and foundation for everything – regarding architecture, he proposed that buildings should appear to merge with their surroundings, and so stone houses should be built in the mountains and wooden houses in the forests.

The traditions and history of a place should influence the design, instead of using machines to quickly construct buildings of inferior quality, that often were insensitive to (or even directly ignorant of) the local context. 

William Morris put the theories of Ruskin into practice. Much of Morris’ design was also included as part of the interiors of Tjolöholm. In a letter to Blanche Dickson, Wahlman wrote: 

”My foremost wish is that the rooms and the hall really should appear homely and warm, that which is only grand must give way to the homely, if not these two can be combined.”

Together, the two traveled to London to visit the best shops of the era, including Morris & Co and Liberty & Co, as well as several private homes, to find inspiration for the decoration of Tjolöholm’s 35 rooms (not counting the servants’ part). Ten of the mansion’s rooms are completely decorated by Liberty and the firm was also responsible for the planning of several other rooms (with the interiors still intact today), which makes Tjolöholm almost a unique part of the legacy of the Arts & Crafts-movement. 

Wahlman was not only an architect but also a precursor in the planning of gardens, and strived to connect the interiors with the manner’s exteriors. He believed that a building could only ever be complete if it were to be composed as part of the surrounding landscape.

The mansion’s park – by Wahlman referred to as “the kingdom of fairies” – holds inspiration from both Swedish and British traditions, while preserving also the old greenery, which included trees dating back to the 18th century.

All around the mansion, there is a deep and strangely vibrant forest, with long dwindling paths that connect the castle with the outside world. Several of the paths lead down to the sea and to the mansion’s terrace of roses.

The English yew bushes, slightly tilted and planted in two rows, one on each side of the large lawn, has become one of the most famous signatures of the garden.

In line with the ideas of William Morris, Wahlman considered the garden to be the heart of the home. It was unusual for an architect to also design the garden, but Wahlman was adamant that architecture and nature should be understood and treated as one.

Just outside the garden, on the cliffs near the water, Blanche Dickson erected a mausoleum for her late husband, decorated with a large angle in white Carrara-marble, designed by sculptor Ida Thoresen. Today only the angel remains, as the Italian stone didn’t survive the harsh winds of the North Sea.

The Tjolöholm estate holds more than just the mansion and its garden – there is also a small village, built for its workers. It is beautiful in a quaint way, founded in a deep understanding of the importance of aesthetics in everyday life. Blanche Dickson was convinced that everyone, regardless of social standing, should benefit from good quality and beautiful design, and so the workers’ village was built, where each cottage was designed by Wahlman himself, and also came with its own small garden.

On a hill next to the village, a church in the style of English Gothic-revival was built, designed by the influential Gothenburg-based architect Hans Hedlund. There was also a larger cottage that functioned as a place for festivities and open lectures, as well as a library and school for the village’s children.

The most beautiful cottage is however the gate house, situated by the old entrance way to the mansion. “The gate house of a castle should not be simply any house with any gate, at any road”, Wahlman wrote as part of his proposal on the design of the Tjolöholm gate house. Undeniably British, with a rounded watchtower and half-timbered walls with a thatched roof, built in a distinct Tudor style, it bears strong resemblance to the famous houses of Blaise Hamlet. 

Tjolöholms slott is in many ways not only a monument of a privileged lifestyle but of an ideology, founded in resistance to industrialized mass-production and the celebration of a family’s international history.

It is marked by respect to the specificities of this particular landscape and its natural resources.

It is also a mystical place, where one often senses the presence of something supernatural – a feeling only enhanced by the gothic aesthetics. 

Tjolöholms Slott

Fjärås

Sweden