kungsträdgården Archives - Augusta's Journey

Selma Christina Wretman

Selma Wretman was ranked as number 11 among the girls who were confirmed in St Jacob’s church in May of 1844 because her father, Fredric Wretman (1791-1857), although not having an important title, was a wholesale merchant with considerable wealth.

Selma was born in Maria Magdalena parish on May 16, 1828. Her mother was Charlotta Fredrika Björling (1795-1890) and she had an older brother, Fredric, and a younger brother, Johan. In 1834, the family lived by Slussen in Stockholm, in a block named Mälaren.

By 1844, the family had moved to Stora Trädgårdsgatan 19 (what is now Gallerian, an indoor shopping center across from the famous department store, NK). In the census records for this year, Fredric Wretman also noted that he was a part-owner of two merchant ships. The other owner was Fredric Sievers who married Selma’s confirmation friend, Johanna Maria Wennberg.

In 1846, Fredric Westman bought a large stone house on Hamngatan 16 with a great view of Kungsträdgården, the expansive park in the center of Stockholm. It was next to an old palace (Sparre’s Palace) which housed a charity home for widows and daughters of the bourgeoisie. Selma would live with her family at Hamngatan 16 most of her life. When Selma married Waldemar Wretman in 1851, Waldemar moved in and they would raise their children in this house. Selma’s mother inherited the house when her father died in 1857.

The house to the right is where Selma lived, Hamngatan 16. The next house (which looks like two houses) is Sparre’s Palace. And the big house in the middle was built in 1866 as an art space for exhibitions and studios. Teodor Blanch opened a cafe on the ground floor in 1868. Photo by Carolina von Knorring (1868-1873).

Marriage and children

Waldemar (1820-1891) and Selma were both first and 2^nd degree cousins. But instead of continuing the family tradition of being a wholesale merchant, Waldemar studied law at the University of Uppsala and eventually became a justice of the Swedish Supreme Court (Swedish: Justitieråd) in 1860.

Selma lived a traditional life as a wife and a mother. She gave birth to (as far as I know) 5 children:

Johan (1852-1923). Married and had children.
Anna (1854-1878). Anna died from tuberculosis at the age of 23.
Waldemar (1856-1936). Didn’t marry and had no children.
Sigrid (1858-1859). Sigrid died from bronchitis before her first birthday.
Walborg (1861-1863). Walborg died from measles at the age of 2.

The two youngest girls, Sigrid and Walborg, were born at Kratsboda, the family farm in Bromma parish outside Stockholm. They were both born in the summer and one possible explanation for them not being born in Stockholm might be that with recurring cholera outbreaks in the city, it was safer to give birth in the countryside. Sadly, both girls died as infants from diseases that are now preventable and treatable with vaccines and antibiotics.

Selma and Waldemar had a 40-year long marriage. Waldemar died in 1891 and Selma in 1896.

Waldemar and Selma Wretman in 1864. Watercolors by Claes Fredrik Laurén.

Blanch’s Café

When I tried to find images of Kungsträdgården from the mid-1800s and images of their house, I instead found many of Blanch’s café – an establishment I was not familiar with. When I read about it, I could imagine Selma’s daughter Anna being just the right age to enjoy it:

The year is 1871 and two girls are walking home from St Jacob’s Church in Stockholm. They have just attended the confirmation class with Pastor Lundberg. Anna Wretman and Clary von Schwerin are walking through Kungsträdgården – the Royal Garden – the large park in the middle of Stockholm.

When they get to the end of the park, they decide to have a cup of tea at Blanch’s Café. It is the most elegant café in Stockholm and it is the place to watch people and to be seen. There is a band playing and they get a table far from the cigar-smoking men who are having a lively discussion. Finally, Stockholm has a café that can measure up to those on the continent. And once it gets warmer, they will be able to sit outside in the park and it will be even livelier.

Anna lives just across the street, in a stately house at Hamngatan 16. She has always lived here, playing in Kungsträdgården when she was younger, and she could not imagine living anywhere else. Even her mother, Selma, lived in this house when she was the same age. And like Anna, she had also walked to St Jacob’s Church to attend confirmation class. But of course, there had been no Blanch’s café at that time!

Teodor Blanch was a German entrepreneur, restauranteur, and art dealer. After having been the restauranteur of the famous Opera Cellar (Operakällaren), he had the brilliant idea to establish a café in Kungsträdgården. It would be as grand as those in his hometown of Berlin, with both indoor and outdoor seating. The waiters would wear tail-coats and white tablecloths added to the elegance of the café. There were crystal chandeliers and tropical plants. And, of course, there would be concerts and music all year around. When Blanch’s café opened in 1868 it transformed the social life in Stockholm. Ten years later, Blanch was one of the first restaurateurs who installed electric light!

Blanch’s Cafe. Based on a lithograph by A. Nay. This view could have been from the Selma’s front door at Hamngatan 16.

Sager’s Houses

So what happened to Selma’s house at Hamngatan 16? Well, first, a few houses in the same block (the block named Hästen) were demolished for the NK department store. I have previously written about Augusta’s friends, Augusta Holmqvist, Eugenia Björkman, and Charlotta Salomon, who lived in those houses. Selma’s house and the house next door (Hamngatan 14) were spared and bought by the brothers Edvard and Robert Sager in 1888. The houses were beautifully remodeled and became known as the Sager Houses.

In the 1960s, the city government decided that the two houses should be demolished to provide space for a new bank building. Many opposed these plans and called for the houses to be preserved for their historical and architectural significance. Despite the public outcry, the houses were demolished.

The department store NK on the left, Selma’s house (Hamngatan 16) in the middle, and Hamngatan 14 on the right. The two houses were referred to as the Sager Houses and later demolished.

Kungsträdgården, probably about 1859-1860 (The large house on the right is Davidson’s House which was finished in 1859. As there is no grove of elm trees in the park, the photo must have been taken before they were planted around 1860.) Photo from Stockholm City Museum. At the end of the park, the house furthest to the left, and partially hidden by St Jacob’s Church, is Selma’s house, Hamngatan 16.

“to imagine, quite vividly… “

I was delighted to discover that Selma has descendants today in Sweden. Maybe they have a family archive with diaries and correspondence?

It was Selma’s son, Johan, who had a family and children. But the most fascinating discovery was that he wrote a handbook on Swedish genealogy which was published in 1916 (Swedish title: Kort Handbok i Svensk Släktforskning). It might even be the first published handbook in Sweden on how to find your ancestors?

And this is what he wrote:

If the researcher also have access to documents that provide information about more important stages in the lives of the deceased, estate records – drawn up at their death, or letters to and from them, which together with written or oral family traditions give knowledge of their characters and inner life; then it becomes so much easier, with the help of some imagination – if one has been bestowed with that gift – to imagine quite vividly, how these ancestors in their time worked and lived, married and gave birth to children, rejoiced and suffered, and finally, early or late, passed away.

So here is to Johan Wretman – I hope he would have approved of me imagining his sister Anna visiting Blanch’s Café on her way home from St Jacob’s Church!

Footnote:

Selma’s daughter Anna also attended St Jacob’s Church and was confirmed in 1871. She was ranked as number 1 of the girls in the confirmation class that year, because her father was a justice of the Supreme Court. Her friend Clary von Schwerin was ranked as number 2, because her father was a count, Count Fredric (Figge) Bogislaus von Schwerin. Her father is mentioned in our Augusta’s diary:

Stockholm, March 1851

Monday morning I went to visit Ribbingens and Bohemans. They were overly astonished to see me so unexpectedly in the Capital City, and in the evening we saw the great opera, “A Tale of the Queen of Navarre.” There I met Count Figge Schwerin, who escorted me home and was quite himself, much disposed to let his lady alone carry on the conversation and himself look like he was sleepwalking.

Well, Figge von Schwerin married and had a daughter named Clary.

Additional Reading:

https://www.bizstories.se/foretagen/blanch-cafe-stockholms-framsta-nojesetablissemang/

https://gentlemannaguiden.com/blanchs-cafe-i-kungstradgarden-kaffehuset-fint-och-anstandigt-folk/

Oscara was sitting at her dressing table. She appreciated the large windows in her bedroom. It was so much easier to powder one’s face in a bright, sunny room. She applied the pearl powder to her cheeks and forehead and then dabbed a little pink rouge on her cheeks – just a little. Carolina, her maid, would help her with the hair. Her long, thick, dark hair would be parted in the middle and then loosely braided and gathered in the back. She might curl it a little at the temples to add some extra volume.

While she was waiting for Carolina, she looked out the window. Through the trees in Kungsträdgården, she could see the Opera House and St Jacob’s Church. She was so happy that she and her husband had been able to get an apartment in Davidson’s House. The palatial-looking house, considered to be one of Stockholm’s most beautiful modern buildings, was 5 stories tall. William Davidson, the owner of the famous restaurant Hasselbacken, had invested some of his fortunes in building this grand house.

Davidson’s House at Lilla Trädgårdsgatan 2b (The house was demolished in 1902 and today, it is the location of Handelsbanken at Kungsträdgårdsgatan 2).

Adding to that, to have Kungsträdgården right in front of your door – well, one couldn’t ask for a better location. On some days, there were even open-air midday concerts right outside your window. And then there was the little grove of elm trees. They had just been planted and provided a shaded nook where one could sit with friends and read a book or work on some embroidery.

Midday concert at Carl XIII’s Square in Kungsträdgården. Drawing by Gustave Janet, 1866.

But today, Oscara was getting ready for something even more exciting. Today, she was going to sit for Stockholm’s most prominent portrait painter, Amalia Lindegren. It was exhilarating. At 36, Oscara thought of how much she had already accomplished. She had married extremely well and she loved her husband, she had a beautiful apartment at the most desirable address in Stockholm and, now, she was to have her portrait done! What else could one ask for?

Oscara Fredrica Leopoldina Wahlström

Oscara Fredrica Leopoldina Wahlström was one of the girls in Augusta’s confirmation class. She was ranked as #3 in the class, according to the pastor’s perception of the girls’ importance – based on family name and father’s profession.

Oscara was born 9 December 1828 to Helena Fredrica Dorothea (Fredrique) von der Feer and Pehr Wahlström, a justice of the supreme administrative court (Swedish: regeringsråd). She had a half-sister who was 11 years older, Maria Christina Elisabeth (Mimmi).

In 1845, the Wahlström family lived at Regeringsgatan 14. That was also a fashionable address. Regeringsgatan was the first street in Stockholm to get sidewalks along the entire street.

On 1 June 1850, Oscara married merchant (Swedish: grosshandlare) Joseph Michaeli (1825-1902) and in 1864, Oscara and Joseph commissioned Amalia Lindegren (1814-1891) to paint a portrait of Oscara.

Those are the few records of Oscara’s life: her birth, communion, wedding, and then finally her death. Her obituary stated that she died at an age of 66 years, 5 months, and 12 days, and was mourned by her husband, relatives, friends, and her lifelong housekeeper. She had no children, and she was buried in Solna.

Two years later, her husband, Joseph, married Anna Sofia Westman. When Joseph died in 1902, his obituary mentioned that he was survived by his wife and a daughter. The last sentence of his obituary read:

“His wife in the first marriage was Oscara Wahlström, known for her beauty in the Stockholm Society.”

The Elms of Kungsträdgården

What happened to that little grove of elm trees that had been planted in 1860? The lovely shaded nook, perfect for a conversation with friends on a sunny afternoon.

Over the next 100 years, they grew very tall and wide. In 1971, when I was 16 years old, they were stately old elm trees that provided shade over a little tea house in the park.

The little tea house in the middle of the elm trees.

But in the spring of 1971, the politicians of Stockholm had voted to cut down the 13 large elm trees. They had decided that it was the ideal place for the entrance to a new subway station. When the citizens of Stockholm realized what was about to happen to the stately trees, the word spread quickly (even in the time of no internet or cellphones). On the night when the tree cutters arrived, the demonstrators were already there and protected the trees. The next day, my friends and I joined the ever-growing number of demonstrators. It was all very peaceful but exhilarating at the same time. The demonstrations were successful and the elms were saved. The entrance to the new subway station was built outside the park and is one of the most beautiful subways stations in Stockholm.

The elm trees are still standing. And Oscara’s portrait is well taken care of at the Swedish National Gallery.

Tag: kungsträdgården

11. Selma Christina Wretman, Blanch’s Café, and Hamngatan 16