Edvin Engström’s villas

Single-family housing architecture and the emergence of the Swedish welfare state during the interwar period (1918-1939)
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Jelrik Hupkes (M.A.) is an art historian specializing in architectural history and heritage. During his residency at ArkDes, he will examine single-family housing architecture in the Stockholm region built during the interwar period, and its relationship to societal development and the emerging welfare state. A particular focus is placed on Edvin Engström (1890–1971), who designed around 4,000 single-family houses during his career. As architect for Stockholm’s Egna Hem Bureau and the Stockholm Cooperative Housing Association (SKB), Engström shaped large parts of areas such as Södra and Norra Ängby, Tallkrogen, Stora Mossen, and Äppelviken. Although largely forgotten today and overshadowed by the “great” architects of his time, Engström played a decisive role in Stockholm’s urban development during the interwar years and continues to influence the cityscape as we know it today.

During the research period, relevant archival material from the ArkDes collection will be identified, contextualized, and described. The project aims to deepen the understanding of the societal role of single-family housing architecture during this period, and to shed new light on Engström’s contribution and the architectural expressions that were developed in this context.