Our history
Hotel Eggers – past and present
Hôtel Eggers is one of Sweden’s oldest hotels still in operation. We have been welcoming and serving guests at this location for over 160 years. We believe and hope that together with you we will continue to build on the history of Eggers for many hundreds more years.
A true story since 1859
Hôtel Eggers is one of the country’s few remaining hotels from the time when the railways were built. During the Eggerian era, many different people stayed at the hotel. Not only travelers and tourists from all over the world. Emigrants have stayed here on their last night in the old country and many Swedish-Americans have also spent their first night “in the old country” at the hotel.
The wings of history
During the First World War, motley crowds came here and refugees from revolutionary Russia found temporary sanctuary. During the Second World War, many Germans and Allies met here for secret talks. Even today, we can still feel the wings of history. The old cozy turn-of-the-century atmosphere is preserved, even now that the hotel has been given the amenities of our time and we carefully let the past meet the present.
A dear child has many names
Jernvägshotellet – In 1859, the year after the railway station was built, the ‘Jernvägshotellet’ was established in the south-east corner building. Providing rooms for travelers was something completely new at that time in the cities. The term “hotel” was used in Swedish, in the mid-19th century, only for a more lavish building. It wasn’t until the 1870s that “hotel” took on the meaning of a building for travelers.
Hotel Christiania – In 1876, L.E. Lindblad rebuilt the “Jernvägshotellet” and named the business “Hotel Christiania”. He was, in 1866, something as unique as Gothenburg’s second authorized private proprietor of a “restaurant and bar business”.
Hôtel Eggers – 1894. In 1879 Lindblad hired the porter Emil Eggers. This enterprising man not only married into the family but also took over the hotel in 1883. Året därpå, 1884, startade han en omfattande ombyggnad av hela fastigheten.
Through much hard and diligent work, and not without many setbacks and difficulties, I was able to inaugurate my new hotel on November 5, 1894, which I called Hôtel Eggers due to a confusion of names with several smaller hotels and to keep the hotel for me.
Emil Eggers
A dear child has many names
Jernvägshotellet – In 1859, the year after the railway station was built, the ‘Jernvägshotellet’ was established in the south-east corner building. Providing rooms for travelers was something completely new at that time in the cities. The term “hotel” was used in Swedish, in the mid-19th century, only for a more lavish building. It wasn’t until the 1870s that “hotel” took on the meaning of a building for travelers.
Hotel Christiania – In 1876, L.E. Lindblad rebuilt the “Jernvägshotellet” and named the business “Hotel Christiania”. He was, in 1866, something as unique as Gothenburg’s second authorized private proprietor of a “restaurant and bar business”.
Hôtel Eggers – 1894. In 1879 Lindblad hired the porter Emil Eggers. This enterprising man not only married into the family but also took over the hotel in 1883. Året därpå, 1884, startade han en omfattande ombyggnad av hela fastigheten.
Through much hard and diligent work, and not without many setbacks and difficulties, I was able to inaugurate my new hotel on November 5, 1894, which I called Hôtel Eggers due to a confusion of names with several smaller hotels and to keep the hotel for me.
Emil Eggers
Electricity & bathrooms
The hotel was built to a very high standard, with such fashionable features as electric lighting, telephones in every room, 12 private bathrooms and an elegant electric elevator. An “American Bar” provided “all kinds of modern drinks”.
Naturally, the new hotel, with all its exclusive furnishings and luxury, attracted the interest of travelers and even Gothenburg residents. With its white, beautifully decorated facades, the hotel was an attractive eye-catcher on Drottningtorget, which at the time was busy with horse-drawn carriages and where visiting tourists strolled slowly.
In 1886, art history was written at Hôtel Eggers. It was here, in the artist Anders Zorn’s hotel room – room 134 – that the so-called Opponents formed the Artists’ Association. This was done in protest against the conservative Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Outdated painting had to give way to a more authentic and natural expression. Impressionism and realism took hold.
Successor to Emil Eggers
In 1921 Emil Eggers was succeeded by his son Axel Eggers, who ran the hotel until his death. Axel was married to Ebba Eggers, the hotel’s liquor cashier, who died in a plane crash in Denmark on February 12, 1948. His wife’s death ended the Egger era. The hotel was then taken over by the lawyer Hilding Brodén and later by his son Hans Brodén.
In 1944, the property had been acquired by the City of Gothenburg in order to quickly implement a major traffic diversion in the area. Since then, the property was threatened with demolition, which is why maintenance and renewal had been neglected for many years.
The hotel rigs tell of royalty
Not only artists were drawn to Eggers. The old hotel walls tell us that many royals have stayed at the hotel over the years. Prince Bertil and Mrs. Craig were a frequently seen and welcome couple. They each rented a room on the first floor, and room 125 is now called the Prince’s Room.
When the Prince of Wied, then a German minister in Stockholm, came to visit with his princess in the mid-30s, some problems arose. Given their position, they should be received with raised swastika flags. Axel Eggers, who was the manager of the hotel at the time, could not bring himself to fly such flags. Instead, he had all the flagpoles dismantled and sent them away to be painted. Clever, one must admit!
Diplomats, military officers, civil servants and businessmen of all kinds have also been frequent guests.
Meeting place for agents and spies
Before and after the Russian Revolution of 1917, many Russian refugees took temporary refuge here. During the Second World War, it is said that Eggers was an important meeting place for agents and spies from the warring countries.
An exciting future
It fell to later hotel owners, first Hans Brodén and then in 1987 the Ramén family, to save the hotel from demolition and destruction. After continuous renovation and careful renewal in recent years, the atmosphere and to some extent the interior of the old Eggers have been preserved while the hotel’s standard and comfort have been modernized.
In 2015, a new chapter was written in the long history of Hôtel Egger when the couple Anna Riis and Lars-Olof Oskarsson took over ownership of the hotel. Described as design virtuosos, they previously owned Varbergs Stadshotell & Asia Spa and Arken Hotel & Art Garden Spa in Torslanda, Gothenburg.
From past to present
Today, Hotel Eggers attracts almost the same interest as when it was built. The white facades are still an ornament to Drottningtorget. The name Eggers is an obligation. Our goal is to offer today’s hotel guests an experience with personalized service and care in an exclusive and pleasant environment as when the century was young.
Curiosities about Eggers
- Parts of the hotel’s property rest on the remains of Gothenburg’s old city walls from the 17th and 18th centuries.
- The hotel was the first in Gothenburg to open a permanent veranda in 1880.
- In 1894, in addition to more than 100 well-furnished guest rooms, there were also large spaces designed for the comfort and enjoyment of guests. Alongside the elegant restaurant were the “Moriska Café” and the “American Bar”. There was a concert hall and a hall for large parties called “Vita Havet”.
- Hotel records from 1886 show that Zorn stayed as a guest in room 34 (now room 134).
- It was also in this room that Anders Zorn, Carl Larsson, Hugo Birger, Georg Pauli, Eva Bonnier, Bruno Liljefors, Karl Nordström and several other famous artists met and formed the Swedish Artists’ Association on August 18, 1886.
- These neighborhoods were often the last stop for many of the Swedes who emigrated to America in the latter part of the 19th century. It has happened that their descendants, who later visited Sweden, have told us that their ancestors stayed at Eggers on their last nights before leaving.
- On February 12, 1948, Ebba Eggers was killed in a plane crash in Denmark. The crash killed the entire crew, four men in the cockpit, and seven of the seventeen passengers, three Swedes, three Danes and one Norwegian.
The owners of the hotel over the years
- 1859 Railroad hotel – tractor driver Wilhelmina Schmidt
- 1874-1883 Former police sergeant L.E. Lindblad(Hotel Christiania)
- 1883–1910 Emil Eggers
- 1910-1942 Axel Eggers, Emil’s son
- 1942-1948 Ebba Eggers took over from her late husband Axel Eggers. Ebba died in 1948 in a plane crash.
- 1944 The City of Gothenburg takes over ownership of the property
- 1948-1987 Lawyer Hilding Brodén and later his son Hans Brodén
- 1987-2014 The Ramén family
- 2015- Lars-Olof Oskarsson and Anna Riis
The book about Hôtel Eggers
We are so proud of our very own book; “Hôtel Eggers – a true story”. In it we have collected stories and pictures from our over 160 years as a hotel. You can order the book in our web shop or buy it at our reception if you are passing by.
