Stora Nygatan 17
i Malmö

A House in the New Town

Stora Nygatan 17 is a so-called master builder’s house, constructed in 1899 by the builders Jönsson and Olsson. Fabriksgatan 2 was added as late as 1944. The house stands in the Concordia block and was once a part of what was known as Nya Staden—the New Town.

Owner Information

Available premises
Contact Tel. 040 - 611 34 00
Owner: Fastighets AB Trianon

Frans Suell (IDstory) once had a manufactory—a factory—for clothing right in this block. Suell was one of Malmö’s most successful businessmen, and a true local. Read more about the building’s history ↓

Stora Nygatan 17 & Fabriksgatan 2

The corner house was built in 1899 by Jönsson & Olsson, making it a typical master builder’s house—with no special architect involved. It was common in the 1800s for builders to design houses themselves. Like today, it featured shops on the ground floor with residences above.

The house on Fabriksgatan was built in 1944 as an addition to a rear courtyard house. Since the mid-1980s, the two buildings have been joined at ground level. They once included a small mall called Italienska Gången (“the Italian Walk”), but after a few years, the restaurant and sports bar Interpool took over.

Earlier in the 19th century, this corner was home to simple one- and two-story houses—the first generation of homes in the New Town.

The New Town (Nya Staden)

The Concordia block sits in an area that, during the 1800s, was called Nya Staden. This was land reclaimed after King Gustav IV Adolf ordered the old fortress walls and moats around Malmö torn down and filled in, originally built in the turbulent 1600s when Swedes and Danes took turns besieging the city.

Nya Staden covered today’s eastern and southern Malmö, stretching from Drottningtorget (IDstory) to Gustav Adolfs Torg (IDstory), with Stora Nygatan, Kvarngatan, Trädgårdsgatan, Norregatan, and other streets in between. Among the first buildings were the Malmö Theatre (1809) and the restaurant Stadt Hamburg, now home to H&M at Gustav Adolfs torg.

Concordia

The house sits in the Concordia block, as does Fabriksgatan. Both names recall Frans Suell’s textile factory established here in the 1790s.

Concordia was Malmö’s first manufactory in the modern sense. “Manufacturies”—the factories of their day—were not generally mechanized, but Concordia was. All the machines were powered from a central drive operated by horses that walked in circles for a few hours before being swapped out. Spinning, carding machines, and looms all ran thanks to their steady work.

The construction and start-up took two years, and included both a two-story and a three-story building along Djäknegatan. Concordia had its own dye works and produced a range of textiles. All staff was trained on site—there was nowhere else to learn these trades then. Roughly 100 people worked directly in the factory, with another 100 weaving at home.

There were plans to upgrade Concordia with a steam engine, but in 1808, the entire complex burned down. Suell and his backers couldn’t afford to rebuild; their insurance was nowhere near enough to cover the loss.

Who Was Frans Suell?

Frans Suell (IDstory) was one of Malmö’s greatest businessmen of all time—at times responsible for 80% of all manufacturing in the city. Both trader and entrepreneur, he lived from 1744 to 1817.

His interests spanned tobacco, sugar refineries, brickworks, lime kilns, mills, and more. He helped modernize agriculture around Malmö, but is probably best known as head of the Port Authority: Malmö’s first “real” harbor was built under his leadership, and his statue now stands by Norra Vallgatan.

But Suell was, above all, a merchant. He started with a city shop but soon became a wholesaler importing and exporting raw sugar, coffee, rice, tobacco, paper, porcelain, syrup, spices, coal, tallow, textiles, and more.

The Suell legacy continued through families like Kockum and Falkman. Citizens married within their class, preserving and building fortunes in the process.

Today, reminders of Suell live on not only in names and a statue: You can still enjoy “Suell’s Sole” at Årstiderna in Kockska Huset (where Suell once lived), grab a bite at the Frans Suell restaurant near Davidshalls torg, or stroll through what remains of his private park—now part of Folkets Park.