The building
The artist Carl Eldh’s strive for a customized sculpture studio was realized in 1919. The studio in Bellevue park in the outskirts of the city was designed by Eldh’s close friend, architect Ragnar Östberg (1866–1945). The building was adapted for the sometimes heavy and space-consuming work. The floorplan mainly constist of room for work. The studio was in use from 1919 until shortly before Eldhs death in 1954. In 1963 the former studio opened as museum. Most part of the building is open to the public with the collection intact.
The building is clad with standing brown tarred wooden panels, inspired by a nearby building from the late 18th century. The studio building has four distinctly defined parts, each with its own purpose: two light, large studio rooms for ongoing as well as finished projects, rotunda (tusculum), a small round room for recepetion and resting, and a separate small living accommodation.
A painter can work anywhere, however a sculptor has specific requirements. Here we find that the studio is a one floor building equipped with high and wide doors for entering materials as well as transporting plaster models in different sizes out of the building.
The larger studio room huge glassed area is facing northwest, which give the benefit of daylight during a long time throughout the day. As time went by, the rooms were filled with shelves, cabinets and furniture, as well as artwork in many sizes. The untreated worn-out wooden floors and the great amount of sculptures, is a witness of many years of hard work.
The character of the rotunda differs from the other rooms. The rendered walls and a brick floor mark that the space is to be used for something else other than work. A chaise longue for resting during the workday and some chairs for visitors were original pieces of furniture in the room. The rotunda receives the main part of daylight through a skylight in the cupola and a small window facing the garden. Over time, walls and floors were filled with art, memorabilia and family photographs.
The small living accommodation was separated from the studio, and could be reached from a separate entrance at the backside of the garden. In the 1960s this room was replaced with living space for Carl Eldhs daughter Brita Eldh (1907–2000), the museum’s first director. This added a room, kitchen and bathroom to the building. These rooms were in 2013 transformed to be used mainly for temporary exhibitions, workshops and office space.
A private garden offered the possibility to work outdoors and experience the sculptures in such environment. Plaster foundries as well asother craftsmanship necessary for a sculptor were situated nearby in Vasastan. One of Stockholm’s lager foundries, Herman Bergman Fine Art Foundry, was situated at Roslagsgatan 1895–1950.