Nobis Hotel has been designed in a timeless, modern, and elegant style by the architectural trio Claesson Koivisto Rune. The interior design contrasts strikingly with the magnificent, culturally protected original interiors of both buildings from the late 19th century, both fantastic examples of Stockholm’s unique, high-quality, richly decorated bourgeois stone architecture. Both buildings are steeped in Stockholm’s history.
Stockholm Syndrome has become a world-renowned phenomenon in which hostages sympathize with or identify with their captors. One summer day in August 1973, four people working at Kreditbanken on Norrmalmstorg—now Nobis Hotel—were taken hostage. The much-discussed bank drama would keep Sweden on the edge of its seat for nearly six days. At 10 a.m. on August 23, the robber Jan Erik Olsson entered the Svenska Kreditbanken branch on Norrmalmstorg. He fired a gun into the ceiling and took three women and one man—all bank employees—hostage. When the police arrived, the robber demanded three million kronor in cash and the release of inmate Clark Olofsson from the Norrköping prison. The government agreed to his demands but refused when the robber demanded safe passage with his hostages. The robber had barricaded himself in the bank’s vault with the bank employees. When negotiations between the robber and the police yielded nothing, the police decided to gas the robber out. When the police drilled a hole in the vault ceiling and released the gas, the robber immediately surrendered. The hostages were rescued, and the drama was over after 130 hours. Today, the drill holes have been filled in but are still visible inside the Nobis Hotel.
Until the mid-1800s, what now Norrmalmstorg was called Packartorget. It was a rather notorious and extremely foul-smelling place where fishermen came to have their daily catch inspected and repackaged in the Packarhuset, and where criminals and other miscreants were punished using instruments such as the pillory and the stocks. The square was located at the mouth of Nybroviken, which, due to land uplift, had turned into a stinking, disease-spreading marsh known as Katthavet. During the 1850s, the marsh was filled in and Berzelii Park was established. In 1853, the square was renamed Norrmalmstorg. In Albert Lindhagen’s new city plan from 1866, Norrmalmstorg became the hub of the growing royal capital’s most central and representative thoroughfare. From here ran the shopping boulevard Hamngatan, which to the east led to Nybroplan and the emerging Strandvägen, Stockholm’s most prestigious address.
In the 1890s, Albert Jones Grill Restaurant was located on the corner of Hamngatan. Grilled meat was a novelty in the restaurant industry. It became popular for idle young gentlemen to hang out at Jones. They were called “grilljannar.” Since then, restaurants such as “Gillestugan vid Norrmalmstorg,” “Blå Grottan på Capri,” and most notably, the Metropol restaurant, which became a gathering place for writers, artists, and actors. Metropol closed in 1917 when the building was slated for demolition and replacement by a bank palace. Metropol reopened in 1926–1927 on the corner of Sveavägen and Odengatan.
