Kvarteret Cepheus

The Cepheus neighborhood is a triangular neighborhood in the Old Town district of Stockholm, located southeast of Stortorget. The neighborhood was cleaned up by Samfundet Sankt Erik in the years 1934–1970, when the farmhouses were demolished and the Old Town’s only major park was built. However, it is not currently available to the public

History

In the 1930s, distaste for the Old Town’s slums had been replaced by great respect for the district’s historical heritage. In 1934, Samfundet Sankt Erik had the house at Kindstugatan 14 in the Cepheus quarter renovated on a trial basis. The result was considered very successful. However, the property owners were completely uninterested, they would rather sell than pay for a major demolition and rebuild. Therefore, the company AB Stadsholmen was formed with the task of restoring and modernizing the buildings.

The community began to systematically purchase several buildings in the neighborhood with money that had been borrowed from the city. In the quarter, over 30 small buildings crowded around cramped backyards (some only 2–3m² in size) and an internal jumble of centuries-old additions. While other city blocks in the Old Town are criss-crossed by alleys and streets, kv Cepheus was a single large compact building volume with a courtyard shaft that sent some daylight to the apartments.

In 1936, an extensive clean-up project was started under the direction of the architect Albin Stark. Thirteen farm houses were demolished and in their place a continuous courtyard was built, where the Old Town’s first major park was created. Radical architects and young newlyweds moved into the modernized small apartments at the end of the 1930s. The ”honeymoon quarter” became for a time the name of Cepheus.

In the following years until 1970, the houses along the streets were equipped and modernized according to drawings by Albin Stark’s son, architect Erik Stark. All buildings were examined by the Stockholm City Museum, which found beams and other building details that surprised with their age and their cultural-historical value.

A commemorative plaque with the text Samfundet S:t Erik had restored kv. Cepheus 1934-1970 reminds of the clean-up.

Reference: https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvarteret_Cepheus#Saneringen_av_kv_Cepheus