Damstredet

Damstredet is a narrow, 160-metre-long cobbled street in the St. Hanshaugen district of central Oslo, Norway, running downhill from Akersveien, near Vår Frelsers Gravlund, to Fredensborgveien. It forms part of the historic Bergfjerdingen neighbourhood, which developed as an informal suburb outside the old city boundaries of Christiania during the late eighteenth century. Because the area was originally situated beyond the city’s restrictions on wooden construction, it developed with small timber houses rather than the larger masonry buildings that gradually replaced much of central Oslo’s older architecture. Most of the surviving houses date from the late eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries, although certain buildings contain considerably older structural elements. Until around 1830, the street was known as Bergfjerdingens Gade, before receiving its present name from Billedhuggerdammen, a small pond associated with the sculptor Meyer family, who owned the property at the upper end of the street. The pond was filled in during 1851–1852, although a small reflecting pool now occupies part of the historic site, which was officially named Sigrun Bergs plass in 2020. Among the street’s notable buildings is Damstredet 1, also known as Solberg, where Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland lived with his wife Amalie Sofie Bekkevold from 1839 to 1841. The neighbouring stable belonging to Wergeland’s horse Veslebrunen has also survived. Another distinctive property is Damstredet 5, popularly known as Rabarbraslottet, which dates from the 1820s. Much of the historic streetscape was restored during the 1960s and 1970s, and Damstredet remains one of the few streets in central Oslo to retain a largely continuous collection of traditional suburban houses.

Damstredet has appeared in Lasse & Geir (1976) and The Snowman (2017), with both productions using the historic street and the area around its upper entrance at Akersveien. In Lasse & Geir (1976), the location forms part of the two young protagonists’ wanderings through central Oslo, including a scene involving a public telephone box that has since disappeared. More than four decades later, The Snowman (2017) used Damstredet 1 as the home of Rakel and Oleg, with the production transforming the surrounding street into a winter landscape using artificial snow.

In Lasse & Geir (1976), directed by Svend Wam, Damstredet appears during a sequence in which the two rebellious teenagers, played by Nils Ole Oftebro and Jørgen Langhelle, wander through some of Oslo’s older residential neighbourhoods. After walking uphill through the neighbouring Telthusbakken, where they encounter an elderly woman complaining that her thighs are aching from the climb, the pair continue towards Damstredet in search of small change. At the upper end of the street, they investigate a public telephone box situated close to the historic property where Henrik Wergeland once lived. The scene provides an unusually clear view of the surrounding buildings, many of which remain remarkably similar to their appearance in 1976. In particular, the pale pink façade visible behind the telephone box has retained much of its original character. The telephone box itself has since been removed, and the small reflecting pool at Sigrun Bergs plass now occupies the area where it once stood. The former Wergeland property behind it is today used as a kindergarten. The sequence is a particularly interesting record of the neighbourhood during the 1970s, capturing a part of Oslo that has undergone relatively few visible architectural changes compared with much of the surrounding city.

In The Snowman (2017), directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on Jo Nesbø’s novel, Damstredet 1 portrays the home of Rakel Fauke, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, and her teenage son Oleg, played by Michael Yates. Rakel is the former partner of detective Harry Hole, played by Michael Fassbender, who remains emotionally attached to both her and Oleg despite their separation. The distinctive pale pink house is seen when Harry brings Rakel home, with the historic exterior and illuminated windows establishing the family’s residence in one of Oslo’s older neighbourhoods. The property features again as Rakel becomes increasingly concerned about Oleg’s disappearance and telephones her current partner, plastic surgeon Mathias Lund-Helgesen, played by Jonas Karlsson, who is attending a conference and offers little practical assistance. The house also appears towards the end of the film as Mathias returns, shortly before his increasingly suspicious behaviour becomes central to Harry’s investigation into a series of murders committed by the Snowman Killer. Filming in Damstredet took place during March 2016, when the production transformed the street into a winter setting despite rising temperatures and the disappearance of much of Oslo’s natural snow. Artificial snow was brought in to cover the cobblestones and surrounding areas, while large lighting rigs were installed along Damstredet and Fredensborgveien for an evening and night shoot on 21 March. The production attracted considerable attention from local residents, with the historic houses providing a contrasting residential setting to the film’s other Oslo locations, which include the modern Barcode district, Restaurant Schrøder and the streets around Frogner and Bislett.

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