THE HOUSE

Steeped in local history

Dating back to the early 1800’s, it is believed that the present day location and structure of City Brasserie and Wine bar  (Brasseriet & Lounge) was originally sited and built around 1850. It's primary function was to serve as a warehouse and storage facility for Stavanger’s bustling port,  merchant sailors and traders. During this period the rear of the building, now converted into a chic wine-bar and cocktail lounge, served as a communal residence for transient seafarers.

Following the regional depression of 1884, when four of Stavanger’s largest Banks were simultaneously declared bankrupt, the city desperately needed an economic overhaul.  Rejuvenation came in the form of sardine factories which progressively lined the developing quayside.

 In 1896, John Braadland limited reinvented the locale to house his own sardine factory; a logical solution to the economic slump as the local fjords where brimming with the highest quality Nordic sardines. Five years later the company and its premises were purchased by the adjacent factory, owned by Christian Vialand.

In his bid to expand Vialand then linked the two neighbouring domiciles with a stone smokehouse and canning room. By the early 1900’s, Stavanger produced eighty percent of Norway’s canned produce. The smokehouse, which unites City Brasserie and wine bar with Skagen Brygge hotel, still stand and so to does the cordial relations of the two houses.

To this day, reminisces of the charming and rich history of these residences can be found. The original features epitomised in both the wooden panelling and period fabric of the restaurant, and high in the eaves of the building the sardine winch has been tastefully incorporated and preserved to give a unique feel and an unrivalled charm. The very nature of the period architecture creates a different ambience and retrospective concept over three magnificent floors.