house of the pulley-block maker ~ blockmakarens hus (iv)

..:: södermalm, stockholm ::..

The winters in Sweden can be extremely cold. This house was located on a mountain and therefore it was possible that the exhalation of this family turned into ice that could be found on walls and windows. Just imagine how this family lived in poverty.

All this in contradiction to Gustaf Andersson's living conditions. Since 1917 he owned the house at Stigbergsgatan 21 and he was considered to be a man of wealth. In 1919 he lost his wife Anna Catarina and another man, a railway constructor, moved in with him in the upper apartment of Blockmakarens hus.

Emilia and her children lived six years in this house. Her jobs kept her from being at home taking care of the five children. It must have been a tough live, also with having four young girls in the same house as where often numerous men drank too much alcohol in the apartment upstairs... Easily being able to take advantage of these unattended children.

The children managed well during these unbearable years and survived the strong winters with temperatures under -20 degrees. In 1923 Gustaf Andersson hanged himself in his upper apartment, probably due to a combination of the loss of his wife Anna Catarina and alcohol problems.
Emilia was not able to get the upper apartment of the former wealthy owner because of another family that moved in. Moreover her own small apartment was declared unsuitable for habitation because of the extreme bad state of its housing conditions -rotting amongst others- and she moved to Folkungagatan 168.