Our History
Karl Johan Hotel is a historic and venerable hotel centrally located on Karl Johans gate
The hotel has recently undergone a complete renovation and features 163 rooms in various categories, a restaurant, a bar, and two lounges.
The hotel building as we know it today was completed in 1899, though it has been in operation since 1874. As the hotel is composed of three separate buildings, you will experience many different room types.
The hotel has both quiet rooms with windows facing the backyard and rooms facing Karl Johansgate, as well as the side street Rosenkrantzgate. With views over Karl Johan, the Parliament and the Palace, you can also enjoy the park’s lively street life.
In the heart of the capital
Although we have a fantastic view over Spikersuppa, towards the pavement restaurants, cultural buildings and the main street, our part of Karl Johans gate is without traffic noise. Sit in the window frame with a cup of coffee and take in the impressions.
When you stay at the hotel, it is a short distance to the city’s best shops, restaurants, bars, theaters and cultural life. Only a few minutes’ walk to Aker Brygge where you can enjoy the harbor’s life, restaurants, cultural life and Akershus Fortress.
Karl Johan Hotel has today become a meeting place for different styles with a personal touch. “Something borrowed, something new” gives the hotel its informal atmosphere.
When the hotel’s color palette and interior were chosen, this was based on the hotel’s history and the building’s uniqueness. The goal has been to make rooms and function feel contemporary comfortable with tones of “city”. The hotel is a meeting point, a meeting place for both busy and leisurely people in their various activities. Whether you are traveling with friends and family, are traveling for work, or are having a meeting with colleagues – Karl Johan Hotel is the best starting point for your stay.
The hotel’s history from the 1840s, as part of an expansive urban planning where the palace, parliament and parade street would make up Kristiania’s pride at the time, shows its popular role as a hotel operator. Over the years, the building has been demolished, from being the only timber building in the Karl Johan quarter, to being rebuilt as a proud corner building in the Berlin Baroque style in 1899.
From the start, the hotel was run by the Larsen sisters with their heartfelt driving style where guests were very well taken care of, – also those guests who could not pay for themselves. The hotel’s popular soul thus took root and has been involved in the development through all eras. The passion for taking care of guests with warmth and care is still in good standing and part of the hotel’s identity.
Throughout the ages, the hotel’s guests have been able to take part in many gems of Norway’s history with a proximity to the events others have only been able to dream of. Most of it has started right outside the hotel entrance and under the windows facing Karl Johans gate. From being a parade street in “rural surroundings” where fine maidens were watched by suitors, to all royal weddings, funerals, inaugurations, state visits, and not least Norway’s national treasure no. 1, May 17 celebrations.
The Larsen Sisters
“Once you have stayed with the Larsen Sisters, you must always return there again!”
Søstrene Larsen Privathotel was operated from 1874 to 1903. Karl Johans gate 33 was then the only wooden building in the Karl Johan quarter. The wooden building was demolished and today’s building was completed in 1899, still run by the Larsen sisters. (Photographer: L. Szacinski (the company). Oslo Museum/OB.SZ12179)
Søstrene Larsens Privathotel was operated from 1874 to 1903. Miss Marte and Marie were described as two «splendid» and self-forgetful sisters. They grew up in Smaalendene in an old rich farming family, and traveled to Kristiania in their twenties to work. Marte had a past as «housemaid» with the Nansen family at Store Frøen. This meant that Fridtjof Nansen always stayed with the Larsen Sisters on Karl Johan when he returned from his polar expeditions.
Marte had been the housewife’s right hand at Frøen and was very well regarded. She was never at a loss and was very hardworking. Her joy was to ensure the happiness and well-being of others, and it is said that she had a heart of gold. She is also described as «highly respected and loved» and she also showed this cordiality towards her guests at the hotel. «She granted her guests so much, which in turn affected the profit which certainly could have been much greater» says lawyer Nansen in an interview. «Marte loved work for the sake of work», and stepped into several functions, including as a cook if someone became ill. Personally, she was very frugal, in fact «to the point of ridiculousness», but towards her guests she was always generous and accommodating.
Marie had worked at Apotek Møller, and together the sisters first started a eatery business in Dronningens gate before moving it to Karl Johans gate 33 in 1874. Then it was Christian Magnus who owned the farm where a large colonial business was run on the first floor. The sisters have given the hotel a soul and personality that sits in the walls to this day!
She granted her guests so much, which in turn affected the profit which certainly could have been much greater.
Said about Marte Larsen
Kitchen maids and servants at Karl Johan Hotel
The picture from 1902 shows the hotel’s founders, the sisters Marie and Marte Larsen, with their hardworking kitchen maids. The sisters ran the hotel from 1874 to 1903 and took in several kitchen apprentices in addition to their staff of women.
These were young girls who came to Kristiania from the countryside, in search of work. At the beginning of the 1900s, there was therefore an overweight of young women in the city, as many as 139 women per 100 men were counted in 1890. Kristiania was therefore called «The young girl’s city».
The service profession was the most important female profession in the capital and in 1875 they made up 46% of the working female population. It was a tough job, where they worked from morning to night, had little free time and lived in cramped conditions.
To all our hotel employees in «the old days», from chefs and maids to our often female drivers. Thank you for everything you have contributed to ensuring that our guests have an «exquisite» stay with us.
We still take pride in giving our guests exquisite experiences.
Photographer: L. Szacinski (the company). Oslo Museum/OB.SZ08644
Architect Ove Ekman
Restaurant Ekman – Our restaurant on the 2nd floor is named after the building’s architect Ove Ekman. Ekman was one of the most respected and used architects in the 1800s, the beginning of the 1900s. Several of the commercial buildings in Kvadraturen are designed by him.
Ekman has his education at the Royal Drawing School in Christiania, and studied further in, among other places, Germany, Italy and France. When he returned to Norway in 1872, he started his own practice and received assignments from the state, municipality, institutions and private individuals.
Ove Ekman’s strength as an architect was his economic, practical and technical abilities. His starting point for details, style elements and decorations is taken from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque and Classicism. He was also very concerned with the quality of all materials used.
With gradually broad experience in industrial buildings, hotels, restaurants and tenement buildings, his reputation became very good.
Karl Johansgate 33 is a majestic corner building in granite and sandstone with a classic Berlin Baroque feel. The building was completed in 1899, the same year Ove Ekman was knighted 1st class of the Order of St. Olav.
It is with pride that we have dedicated the hotel’s heart, the restaurant, after the architect who has adorned us with a very beautiful building – with Oslo’s best location!
Christian Semb Magnus
Christian Semb Magnus was a businessman who is particularly known for having given his name to «Magnusgården», Karl Johans gate 33 – Karl Johan Hotel’s corner building.
In 1869, Christian established his own delicatessen business on Karl Johans gate, and in 1873 he took over the corner building number 33, the main building of today’s Karl Johan Hotel. Here he lived with his wife Hermine and their three children. In 1897, the wooden building was demolished, and Christian had today’s farm built in a beautiful classic Berlin Baroque style.
Magnus’ delicatessen was the first shop in the Karl Johan quarter. It was considered one of the city’s finer businesses, and was among the very first to have electric power installed. This contributed to the development of Karl Johan as a promenade. The shop was later taken over by Oluf Lorentzen.
Christian Magnus is an important person in the history of Karl Johan Hotel as the corner building has been given life through his ownership.
We honor Christian Magnus with a meeting room named after him.
A warm welcome to Karl Johan Hotel, whether you are at a business meeting or want a break in comfortable and beautiful surroundings!
Photographer: Wilse, Anders Beer. Oslo Museum/OB.A01112 (1904)
(NB, the man in the picture is a random stroller on Karl Johans gate)
About Karl Johans gate in the 1890s
«The walking time was a real-life scene for flirting and entertainment hairline within the framework of what the bourgeoisie allowed»
«The capital was admittedly not as pretty as she had dreamed of, but when the Christiania elite strutted on Karl Johan, they made up for many of the city’s other aesthetic shortcomings. Karl Johan was Europe’s shortest boulevard but nevertheless a street that international tourists praised for its charm.
Along Karl Johan lay the monumental signal buildings the Parliament, the university and the palace. But also the open parks, Studenterlunden and Eidsvolls plass. Here, stalls were set up where you could buy refreshments while the military music played under the treetops.
The walking time started at 2 o’clock every day except Sundays and then prominent young people especially from the higher classes between the clock on the university square and the newly renovated Grand Cafe.
On Sundays, the workers took the place and the bourgeoisie moved further out on Drammensveien.
The walking time was a real-life scene for flirting and entertainment hairline within the framework of what the bourgeoisie allowed. The time period was limited to a couple of hours and it was not decent to walk either too much or for too long.
To make a good figure on Karl Johan, one had to master a number of unwritten rules, and handle a gender-specific and class-divided balancing act with an expertise that could not be learned in a hurry.
Young women who were not accompanied by young men often walked in groups. A single woman usually had a faster pace than the others, as if she had an errand somewhere. More than twice one should not be observed up and down the street. Then someone would immediately start gossiping.
In European terms, the many young women were nevertheless perceived as unusually fresh and bold by visiting men. Christiania was a city full of young people and during walking time they owned Karl Johan. Many visiting men wrote about Karl Johan as the young women’s arena, and they had a point.
Christiania had a surplus of women. Especially in the lower social classes. But in this context, it also played a role that young middle-class women increasingly had more schooling. From the 1890s onwards, they gradually made themselves more visible in both working life and society in general. The walkers had the most beautiful dresses and made up an exclusive group, but they were nevertheless a sign of a society in deeper change where women took to the streets in a new and more natural way.
The women walked forward a public that had traditionally been dominated by men. When it got dark, however, it was over. Women who were outdoors after the gas lights were lit in the evening could not expect to be perceived as fresh and bold, then the prostitutes took over. The National Theater was not built yet, but Christiania Theater was located on the bank square.»
Excerpt from «Love and Darkness», a biography about Marie Hamsun.
Written by Anne Hege Simonsen.
No wonder we are proud of the hotel, its role as a history observer,
and today also as a hotel with fantastic style and comfort.
The Narvesen kiosk
Right outside Karl Johan Hotel stands Oslo’s oldest kiosk, Centrumskiosken, better known as the Narvesen kiosk.
The kiosk from 1914 has been given several lifts over the years and was the result of an architectural competition in 1912 for Narvesen Kioskkompani.
Previously, a tower kiosk was erected on Eidsvoll plass in 1898, the year before Karl Johan Hotel’s new corner building was erected, but this was then replaced by
Centrumskiosken. The kiosk is today in a conservation class and is a beautiful and well-known sight for both busy passers-by and those interested in culture.
A small piece of Oslo history you can enjoy, and shop from, when you stay at Karl Johan Hotel.
“Photographer: Ørnelund, Leif. Oslo Museum/OB.Ø57/0160a”
When the tram went along Karl Johans gate!
The picture is taken from Karl Johans gate in 1914, and at this time the tram was considered a major tourist attraction in Oslo.
From horse-drawn trams in 1875, to electric trams from the 1900s, all of which have piloted passengers through Oslo’s beautiful parade street.
In the 1970s, large parts of Karl Johans gate were converted into a pedestrian street, and Oslo then became the world’s only pedestrian street with tram tracks! This was frequently used in the marketing of Oslo city, but in the end, after many discussions, the last tram went through Karl Johans gate on March 25, 1983.
The guests at Karl Johan Hotel, then called Hotel Nobel, were helping to say goodbye to 107 years of tram history with a stately decorated parade street and thousands of people gathered along the street.
We are still proud hosts for guests who can watch major and minor events from our hotel.
Photographer: Wilse, Anders Beer. Oslo Museum/OB.Y2011. Year 1914. Source «oslogeek.no»
