Gunnebo House

History of Gunnebo House

Gunnebo House was commissioned by one of the wealthiest men in Sweden, John Hall (1735–1802) and was designed by the city architect of Gothenburg, Carl Wilhelm Carlberg (1747–1814). The house and gardens were completed 1786–1796. John Hall was one of the leading English businessmen who founded the wealth of Gothenburg in the late eighteenth-century. The mansion contains some of the most English influenced interiors to be found in Sweden. After the death of Hall in 1802 the family business declined and eventually went bankrupt in 1807. After a long period of financial dispute the house was left uninhabited for almost 15 years from 1818–1832. Badly leaking roofs were reported in 1822 but the actual condition of the building when it changed hands in 1832 is not known. In 1952, the house was managed by local authorities and transformed into a historic house museum.