Husargatan 3
in Malmö

in Swedish

A House with a Secret

A glance at the window placement hints at the building’s colorful construction history. Once you know the story, you can trace it in the details. The house was built in 1857 as a stable, with its gable facing the street, for the Crown Prince’s Hussar Regiment. Read about the hussars↓

Tenants and owner

• Shops and other businessesꜜ
• Vacant premises: not updated
• Owner: not updated

When the hussar regiment moved to Regementsgatan (now Kronprinsen) in 1897, one of their old stables was converted into a two-floor warehouse. In the 1920s, the building was expanded to four floors, one of them below ground, and in 1934 it was extended along Husargatan to house A. Svensson’s Passementerie and Textile Factory.

Modern Office Space

Husargatan 3 has seen many changes over the years and is now a modern office building. The property totals 1,573 sqm, mostly for offices.

The New Town

The ground where the Husaren block sits is part of an area called “Nya Staden” (“the New Town”) in the 1800s. This was land reclaimed after King Gustav IV Adolf ordered the demolition of Malmö’s fortress walls and the filling of its moats. These defenses were built during the turbulent 1600s, when first the Swedes, then the Danes, besieged Malmö. More history in text and images↓

Nya Staden covers Malmö’s eastern and southern quarters, stretching from Drottningtorget (IDstory) to Gustav Adolfs Torg (IDstory), and including streets such as Stora Nygatan, Kvarngatan, Trädgårdsgatan, Norregatan, and others. Among the first buildings here were Malmö’s theatre with its Stadt Hamburg restaurant (now H&M at Gustav Adolfs Torg) and the riding hall by Drottningtorget (for a while Humanitetens Hus, today a restaurant and boule bar).

The Passementerie Factory

A. Svensson’s Passementerie and Textile Factory was founded as early as 1884, producing cords and trims by hand. Over time, production became industrialized and larger premises were needed. That’s why, in 1934, the house at Husargatan 5 was remodeled and extended.

For almost 50 years, the factory produced: furniture braid, cordon bands, curtain fringes, "skirt nets” for velocipedes, wool felt gaskets, awning fringes, gold thread, and much more.

The company moved out to Norra Grängesbergsgatan in the 1970s, remaining there into the 1990s.

Passementer Lekholm

One of literature’s rare references to the trade appears in the invitingly-titled book Passementer Lekholm Gets an Idea by Gustaf Hellström ↗ svW (1927). Lekholm dreams of educating his sons and raising the family’s fortunes—a long journey, as it turns out.

What Is a Hussar?

Hussar refers to a light cavalryman armed with sabre and pistol, named after the Serbian and Hungarian troops who, in the 1300s, fought the Turks. In the 1600s and 1700s, Western Europe, too, needed fast cavalry for attack.

Inspired by the Hungarian hussars, Sweden acquired its own hussar regiments. The uniforms, likewise borrowed from Hungary, featured the elegant dolman—a short, braid-adorned jacket.

The Hussar Regiment

Kronprinsens Husarregemente ↗ svW existed under a variety of names from 1758 to 1927. Some hussar units were stationed in Malmö already in the 1700s, and, lacking barracks or stables of their own, were billeted with townspeople—a frequent source of friction and complaints.

When Malmö was expanded in the early 1800s following the wall demolitions, the city raised money to build a riding hall, stables, warehouses, and barracks. But funds ran out before all was finished, and not until 1857 was the stable on the east side of the barrack yard complete.

Swedish hussar parade uniform from Nordisk Familjebok, 1876–99. He sits on a schabrak ↗ svW, a vivid saddle blanket. Nowadays, the word usually means something quite different.

The Hussars Move Out

A few years after the hussars left [ Drottningtorget ] the riding hall became a market hall, and later for many years was a Carriage Museum (today’s boule courts). Husargatan was cut straight through the barracks quarter, dividing it into the blocks Dragonen and Husaren. It’s possible the stable was shortened then, but what remained was turned into warehouse space in 1899.

Hagbard Isberg’s 1975 map shows both what the Husaren quarter looked like at the end of the 1800s and, in green, how the fortress walls and moats of the 1600s sliced through the area.

The major 1933 remodel gave the house its present façade. Compared to the photo on the front page, the little winch projection is still missing—added later, perhaps mostly for decoration. The blue drawing here illustrates the gable of the former stable, facing Husargatan.

References

• About BiBB, a media company and an encyclopedia 4.0
• Text: Christian Kindblad | Photo/Web: Johan Schlasberg

Shops and other companies

• Not currently updated

Publicerades: 2005.06 Updated: 2025.09.10

Kategorier 20 Fastigheter 47

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