Frans Ekelund

in Swedish

Frans Ekelund

1882-1965

For almost 40 years, Frans Eklund was the city architect of Landskrona. He was the son of a building contractor in Malmö and received his architectural degree in Lund..

Landskrona was looking for a new city architect in 1913 and wanted someone who could design monumental buildings. Frans Ekelund applied for the job and with his exciting and bold design language in the Savoy Hotel as his merit, he outshone his competitors.

Once installed in the city, he soon found that an architecture other than grandiose buildings was needed.

With great commitment and energy, he began urban planning to solve the housing shortage for workers and low-income earners. At the same time, drawings for his own homes, apartment buildings, a few factories, villas, streetlights, and more - large and small, were emerging in a steady stream from his own architectural office.

Om Frans Ekelund

His wife's name was Elsa and they had two children.
He built a villa by one of the outer moats in Landskrona in 1920. He enjoyed traveling and sailing.

When Frans Ekelund had been the city architect in Landskrona for ten years, he published a book - in A4 format - that contains about 60 pages with photos of houses that he had designed. There are also sketches in both black and white and color for even more buildings.

Ekelund's writing also includes a four-page list of works. The writing was published in 1923, he still had 26 years left in his public assignment as city architect..

Sometimes it is said that architects hide their mistakes with ivy, but Frans Ekelund has done so much exciting and good in Landskrona that it would probably be a good idea to make a modern presentation..

Frans Ekelund received a memorial stone in 2019 Landskrona Walk of Fame↗.

Hotel Savoy in Malmö

The city of Malmö needed to renew its entrance from the sea for the great Baltic Exhibition of 1914. Hamngatan was widened, parks were renovated and, among other things, the Savoy Hotel was built.

Architect Tyke Tykesson, writes very appreciatively about the architecture of the Hotel Savoy at Malmö Skönhetsråd's site↗.

It was important that the city would have a grand entrance for the great exhibition. After an architectural competition, Ekelund was commissioned to design the Savoy. The hotel's exterior design was given a shape that I find almost perfect. It is extremely well-balanced in its asymmetrical structure. The architect has allowed different architectural elements to play contrapuntally against each other. The facade has been geometrically built up using simple numerical ratios and proportions according to the golden ratio..

The result is refined. The facade gives an abstract impression and the wall a feeling of being almost immaterial. The choice of materials and detail design reinforce this feeling of abstraction. The sophisticated elegance is underlined by gilding that shines against the copper plate on the tower's crest..

There are over 80 images you can see by typing the keyword Ekelund in Landskrona Museums fotoarkiv↗. Among other things, there are pictures of some of Frans Ekelund's houses in Landskrona..

Garden city and tree campaign

Most of the so-called Egna hem are located in the northern part of central Landskrona. The expansion of Egna hem took place in three different stages from the 1910s to the 1930s. The houses gradually became somewhat larger and terraced houses were also added. The gardens were often quite large.

Frans Ekelund early adopted the ideas formulated in the 1890s about the so called Garden City. In the fall of 2006, Landskrona started a campaign that gave everyone an opportunity to plant a tree in the city. Landskrona is a city that wants to grow - in many ways.

The gravesite is at Landskrona nya kyrkogård in block 74.

References

• About BiBB, a media company and an encyclopedia 4.0
• Cemetary map
• Åke Jönsson, 'Historien om en stad' del 3:291f
• Anna M Blennow, 'Stadsarkitekternas epok - fyra porträtt 1870-1950', Byggforskningsrådet R23 1990.
• Historiska bilder: Landskrona Museum
• Text/new photos: Johan Schlasberg

Published: 2007.03 Updated: 2025.06.20

Kategorier 20 Historical persons 45 Landskrona 14

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