Stockholm's Public Orphanage, or "Allmänna Barnhus" stood for 250 years at the corner of Barnhusgatan and Drottninggatan. It was built in 1637. After the institution moved to another location in 1885, the building was destroyed in 1886. Children worked to pay for their food and clothing by, among other things, manufacturing rope for the military. Beginning in 1785, when two institutions, Stora Barnhus and Politibarnhus merged to form Allmänna Barnhus, admittance fees were imposed on mothers who brought their children to the orphanage, and the orphanage began to place children in foster homes. It also opened to children from infancy to 14 years old. In 1825, 52% of children brought to the orphanage died within the first year. [Historisk statistik för Sverige, del 1 (1720-1967), Stockholm 1969, p. 115]
Click the images below to enlarge.
Johan Sevenbom (1780s). Public Domain.
The large building in front of the windmills with the white chimneys is the orphanage, viewed in the late 1700s from a small island in the middle of Klara Lake. Today, after the area was filled to permit development, all that remains of the lake is a canal.
Model of the orphanage displayed at the Stockholm City Museum.
