The History of Negarden 1897
A stay at Negarden 1897 is like a journey back to La Belle Époque—the beautiful era, the name historians have given to the period from the late 1800s until the outbreak of World War I. This era was marked by optimism, prosperity, carefree living and a strong belief in the future. New inventions and significant advancements in both science and culture reflected positive societal changes. Creativity flourished, and flowing lines, exquisite details and beautiful colors characterized art, architecture and design.
BEAUTIFUL NOSTALGIA
In art history, this golden age was known as Art Nouveau, or new art. Flowing lines were designed to mimic nature’s symmetry and movement, influencing architecture, sculpture, decorative arts, painting, interior design, graphics, jewelry and, notably, the printing of posters and book illustrations. The period was imbued with a sense of evocative nostalgia. Who has not at some point been captivated by the golden shimmer of Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, mesmerized by Alphonse Mucha’s elegant women entwined with flowers, admired Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s daring posters of the Moulin Rouge dancers, longed for a stunning piece of jewelry designed by René Lalique or dreamed of strolling among the distinguished guests at the 1900 Paris Exposition?
COME AND EXPERIENCE THE AIR OF THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
There are few places in Norway where you can truly feel the essence of the “turn of the century air,” as the legendary Zarah Leander sings about. Here at Negarden, you can sense it from the very first moment you catch sight of the beautiful ochre-yellow villa, invitingly situated in the heart of Flisa. The house is built in a blend of Swiss and Art Nouveau styles, surrounded by fragrant lilac trees, roses, and berry bushes—the remnants of the old garden established here in the British tradition. For centuries, the English have been the masters of exclusive garden design. An English garden was the height of fashion just over a hundred years ago, symbolizing both prosperity and good taste. Any homeowner with a sense of pride and a sizeable plot of land would typically create such a garden, resources permitting.
THE MAID’S BED
In one corner of the kitchen stands a massive white-painted cupboard with profiles painted in a delightful cornflower blue.
– This was used for food storage. Recently, we had a guest celebrating her 90th birthday here. She had both worked here in her youth and met her boyfriend, who also worked on the estate, and she shared that the kitchen maid used to sleep on top of the cupboard at night! She needed to rise early to ensure the fire was lit in the stove, bake and clean, so it was both practical and warm to sleep up there under the roof. The carvings on the front of the cupboard acted as a bed rail, preventing her from falling out of her makeshift bed. It is several meters down to the floor, so it could have gone very wrong if she had slid off.
DINING ROOM WITH ELEGANT DETAILS
The dining room is located just off the kitchen. We take our seats at the long dining table, covered with a white tablecloth, on antique chairs with high, intricately carved backs in the appropriate period style, beneath an eight-armed chandelier made of hand-hammered copper with brass details, hanging from ornate plasterwork on the ceiling. The ceiling is white but decorated with delicate floral vines in soft pastel colors along the edge.
The outer section of the ceiling features raised paneling, with four square plates in each corner that echo the painted floral pattern, which also appears in the decorative wallpaper border along the upper part of the walls. The lower section is clad in profiled wainscoting, with a narrow shelf running along all four walls, where Eva has placed the original pins and balls from the bowling alley located in the garden.
MATHIAS’ TROUBLED JOURNEY TO FLISA
The history of the farm goes back even further than that of the main house.
Negarden was originally part of a much larger farm with forest and fields, areas that have since been developed into residential neighborhoods and town halls. It was commonly referred to as Liegarden, named after the owner we know the most about, Mathias Lie. He was from Nes in Hedmarken, born in 1853, and as a young man, at the age of 18, he traveled east to his namesake, M. Lie, who was a merchant at Nedgården.
THE FLAMES CONSUMED ALMOST EVERYTHING
In 1896, a violent fire broke out at Nedgården, and the flames consumed most of the buildings. However, with Mathias’ determination, it took just one year for the main house to rise again in a new and magnificent form. This is how the place got its name Negarden 1897.
The four other rooms are named Olga, Bertha, Sverre and Birger. Bertha and Olga were twins, and likely had a connection to Negarden, although not much more is known about them. Eva purchased a picture of them at an auction, unaware of this connection; she simply thought it would fit well in the decor of one of the lounges. It was a guest who recognized the two young women in the photograph, and suggested they might have been born here.
– It is said that King Oscar visited this area during an official visit to the railway and needed a place to rest. That place turned out to be Negarden, which prompted the carpenter to start working. On the wall hangs the estate’s first telephone, a tribute to Mathias Lie’s belief in the wonders of the future. The beautiful carvings in the hall are not the only royal element in the house. In the lounge adjacent to the dining room stands a sofa upholstered in deep red velvet. This sofa is from around the turn of the century, but was reupholstered with fabric from the red carpet that Princess Ragnhild walked on at her wedding.
In the third and innermost lounge stands the old safe, which survived the fire of 1896. It is camouflaged as a cupboard, with doors locked by bolts. Eva can open it with a key hidden in a secret place, and shows off the accounting books filled with meticulous notes written in ink and pen.
There is a delightful atmosphere at Negarden, making it easy to imagine dapper gentlemen in top hats and canes, and ladies in long dresses, artistic hats and parasols, sipping tea or a glass of punch while sitting in the shade of the large linden tree or strolling along the gravel paths on sunny afternoons at the beginning of the 1900s.
THE UNIQUE BOWLING ALLEY
The bowling alley was established around 1910 and is one of the very few traditional bowling alleys in the country still intact. It seems that only the men were allowed to play, while the ladies were seated in the garden’s gazebo, where they could converse and drink tea while the gentlemen smoked cigars and enjoyed a cognac or two between turns.
THE SECRET GARDEN
From the middle of the three lounges on the ground floor, you can step out into the expansive garden on the southeast side, which was established in connection with the reconstruction of the main house and developed in a fine and exemplary manner inspired by English gardens. As long as widow Lie lived, the beautiful garden was immaculate and pristine. She used a broom to sweep the lawn, and not a fallen leaf could be seen. Even today, one can trace the remnants of the original gravel path that was laid out for romantic strolls in the garden. It lies like a dip in the grass, winding between lilacs and fruit trees, past the large, old linden tree, around what is likely to have been an artificially constructed pond and through a gazebo that no longer stands. Here, one would enjoy afternoon tea or sip port wine, leading past the long house with the bowling alley, through blackcurrant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes toward the north, back to the main entrance on the west side.
At the bottom of the garden, Eva has discovered a little secret: there is an abundance of horseradish! It was common to cultivate herbs and vegetables in the part of the garden that was not just for ornamental purposes, not far from where the compost was often placed, somewhat hidden from guests and visitors, but incredibly beneficial for discerning palates when preparing gourmet dishes.
