According to the fire insurance policy, the house was built in 1830 by the goldsmith Henrik Gottfried Starcke, who had owned the property since 1823 (deed according to Lasse Backlund). The following year, however, Henrik’s son Gustaf took over the lot but did not live there himself. The fisherman Hans Ström and his wife Catharina did. Gustaf Starcke, the bailiff and crown bailiff, lived in house number 165 (Kyrkogatan 1B), which he had done since 1821 (in 1823 he bought that lot and half of the neighbouring lot, number 154 towards Västra Långgatan).
In 1835 Gustaf also bought the other half of lot 154 from the bankruptcy estate of shoemaker Anders Tillberg. Tillberg’s son-in-law Michael Ekblom, who lived on the half of lot 154 facing Västra Långgatan, took over lot 151, i.e. this house, from Gustaf Starcke instead (but died two years later). Starcke thus exchanged houses with Ekblom/Tillberg. The house remained in the Ekblom family for 30 years, until Michael and Maria Ekblom’s son’s heirs sold the house to master painter Lindqvist, who also owned the neighbouring lot number 150.
From the 1860s, lot 151 and the neighbouring lot to the south, number 150, have from time to time had the same owner.
Otto Wendelin, a clerk, took over both lots 1908, but soon left them to his wife Annie (née Åkerberg). Annie lived to 94 years old and died in 1970. A period of more than 60 years with Annie Wendelin in the house came to an end. After her death, her heirs rented the house to the unregistered art organisation Spectra. The organisation bought the house in 1978 and began to renovate it. With support from various sources, the group’s own financial contribution, and the generous help and professionalism of energy consultant Unto Fieandt, a successful renovation was achieved that respected the old architecture. The renovation was completed in the 1980s. Read more about how this was done in the history of the Spectra art association in swedish on the swedish version of this page (that also contains more information than this translation does).
Since the renovation, the building has been used extensively for courses, work and exhibitions. Gallery Spectra has hosted many outstanding exhibitions, most notably the Fritz Jakobsson exhibition. Today, Spectra is an active association that offers its members working space and exhibition opportunities.
This page was written and translated into english by Dag Björklund
