Building style on the Faroe Islands

Archaeological investigations show that in the Landnam period, Viking Age longhouses were seen of the same type as are found in other Norse areas in the North Atlantic.

The good contacts with the centres and cultural currents of the time continued in the following more Europeanised period until around the year 1300.

Development of the residential building

In the time after about 1100, the longhouses became shorter than they had previously been, about 10‑14 m long, and the roof-bearing structures, which had previously been placed in pairs in the middle of the building, were now placed on foundation stones and moved to the sides. A good example of that building type can be seen in the excavation at Uppistovubeitið in Leirvík. The shorter longhouses with curved long walls are seen together with smaller rectangular buildings, which are separated by stone-paved tun or yards. Examples of this can be found in Inni á Tvørgarði in Miðvágur and in Yviri í Toftini in Sandavágur on Vágar. These buildings from the early High Middle Ages were in use throughout the 14th century, after which the more rectangular buildings became common. The long fire that characterised the Middle Ages now disappeared, and the hearth was placed in a corner of the living room.

Examples of log buildings erected using the dovetail method are seen on some large-scale farms. The best known preserved examples of dovetail log buildings can be found at the old episcopal residence in Kirkjubøur. One of the buildings at Junkarinsfløttur in Sandur was probably of this building type. The remains of the timber buildings excavated in Tjørnuvík are of the same type as known from medieval Oslo and Bergen, but the excavations in Innanfyri Heygagarði and in Eingjartoftum in Sandavágur, which date to the 13th century and later, are smaller buildings.

In the high medieval period of Europeanisation, stovan (farmhouse) replaced the Viking Age long house. The farmhouse was a stave building, but due to the lack of timber, the outer walls of the house were mostly made of turf and stone. The roof was made of turf on a base of birch bark. The space between the outer wall and the inner wall (bróst), which was made of wood, would accommodate sleeping alcoves, an entrance hall or rooms for storage such as the larder, called kovi.

The living room had an open hearth and a packed earth floor. The smoke drifted up through the louver, which, apart from the outer door, was the room’s only source of light. The stable was at one end of the house. The entrance was often shared by both people and livestock. If the house was on a hill, it could have a low basement used as a stable for the cows. Usually, the house would only have that one room, but some houses may have had a few more rooms.

The glass room came to the Faroe Islands in the 16th century following impulses from Western Norway, but it did not become common until around 1750. One of the reasons for this was the farmers’ good and stable income from wool production. It was made of timber as an extension of the smoke room and was provided with a ceiling, windows and usually a jamb stove. It had alcoves, tables and chairs. Some large farms sometimes also had a made-up bed, preferably a four-poster bed, with duvets in the glass room, which was the representative room of the house and a status symbol.

There have been a few log-timbered houses called stokkastovur in the Faroe Islands. Two have been preserved, namely the smoke room at the King’s yeoman’s farm in Kirkjubøur and the warehouse Stokkastovan on Tinganes in Tórshavn.

In addition to the residential house, there were outbuildings. The most important was the storehouse (hjallur), which was mainly used for food storage and therefore had to be airy: The wind had to be able to pass through the building. The simplest was opnahjallur with end walls but no sides. Others had end walls made of stone and long sides made of timber. Varðahjallur was made of timber on all four sides. Finally, there was the variant gróthús, which was made entirely of stone. This was usually away from the actual living quarters, sometimes on islets. On Norðoyggjar they had búarhjallur, one half of which was made of wood and the other of stone.

In most villages, there was a common sornhús for drying grain over an open fire. Boathouses (neyst) were located at the landing site. The roof of the outbuildings was made of turf on a base of straw, which was cheaper than birch bark.

Hay barns are a more recent phenomenon. As recently as the 1950s, hay was stored in haystacks in special hay yards (hoygarðar), surrounded by stones at a height that kept the sheep out.

For a long time, the closest thing to a middle class was the civil servants in Tórshavn and the vicars in the villages. The vicarages did not stand out significantly from the large farms, but that changed during the 19th century, when several new and more modern vicarages were built. These helped to change the building style. The common people in Tórshavn lived in small houses, often with basements. In these houses, the glass room, if any, was usually a little bigger than the smoke room.

Tórshavn was characterised by the Royal Monopoly buildings for various purposes, and merchant Niels Ryberg’s business in Tórshavn in the period 1767‑88 also left its mark. The fact that the Royal Monopoly established branches in Tvøroyri, Klaksvík and Vestmanna in the 1830s also had an architectural impact on these villages.

The introduction of free trade in 1856 and the growing fishing industry with an extensive production of dried cod did not only change the pristine coastal landscape with the construction of landing bridges, large paved or cobbled areas called fiskastykkir, where cod was dried, as well as warehouses, trade stalls etc. It also changed the appearance of the dwellings, because merchants, shipowners, skippers and ordinary fishermen now started to build houses of a new type, where the common bourgeois ideals of the time materialised in the interior of the house. This happened almost at the same time as the traditional farmhouse was influenced by the same ideals and thus entered its final phase of development. Many farms were mow extended with an additional living room, often including a small bedroom, a small ante-kitchen and an additional entrance called bakdyr, which became the fine entrance of the house intended for distinguished guests. Later, the smoke room was renovated into a more modern kitchen with a stove and window.

The cross-plan house

The cross-plan house, which now became the common house, was widespread in both Denmark and Norway. It was divided into four equal parts around the fireplace. On one long side, there were two living rooms and on the other the kitchen and entrance hall, usually with a small bedroom next to the entrance hall. The other bedrooms were in the attic. In the Faroe Islands, the house had a foundation of dressed stones, which was high enough to accommodate a cellar, and sometimes the end walls of the house could also be made of dressed stones.

There were some minor variations in the interior design in the oldest houses of this type, but within a relatively short time, the type was standardised and the interior design became identical. The smallest houses therefore had small rooms. Another reason for the new house type was that more builders had been hired who were trained in Denmark and Norway, and some had also worked in Iceland and travelled around. Many also went to Vallekilde Højskole (Vallekilde Folk High School), which taught them Nordic building style under the building crafts programme. The carpenters therefore had a major influence on recent Faroese building style: If they were told how big the house should be, they knew how to build it. The smallest houses had a basement, a ground floor and an attic with a pitched roof; the largest and most distinguished houses also had trimpil (one and a half floors) in the attic, which made it more spacious. Many also had a dormer. Houses with trimpil and dormer were often called skipper’s houses.

During the period until World War II, the cross-plan house became the prototype of a new Faroese home. The interior design was inspired by a bourgeois way of life, where both a living room and dining room were used. However, this way of life did not always harmonise with life in a Faroese village, so often the living room was just for show. On Vágar, several of these houses were fitted with a kind of mansard roof from the mid-1920s, probably inspired by Canada, where several men from Vágar found work in the 1920s.

The vernacular house type

A new cube-shaped, so-called vernacular house type with a stjørnutak (hip roof) saw the light of day after Word War II. The house could have one, two and sometimes three floors; the basement was usually not furnished, so unless the house had three floors, only one floor was intended for habitation. Houses with three floors had the layout of the cross-plan house, but with plenty of space for the bedrooms on the top floor. The appearance of the cube-shaped house varied from simple boxes without frills to beautiful functionalist houses with bay windows and balconies. Some were made of timber, but the most common building material after World War II was concrete. Inspiration has come from many places.

The foundation of the house was previously made of dressed basalt, but already from around World War I, foundations started to be cast in concrete, and gradually houses were built entirely of concrete. This was especially the case after World War II, but the interior design was the same, regardless of whether the house was built of timber or concrete.

For a long time, the roofs of both the traditional farmhouses and the new houses were turf on a base of nævur (birch bark). Some had slate roofs. Gradually, roofs made of zinc or corrugated iron, later also asbestos, became common. It also became common to clad the houses with corrugated iron, probably inspired by Iceland, which was visited by many Faroese fishing ships.

The building style was vernacular until recent times. Some carpenters, however, had their own ideas about the appearance and interior design of the home. They often brought these ideas with them from visits to Norway or Iceland, and you will therefore find houses, mostly in Tórshavn, in Swiss chalet style or with peculiar bay windows.

The standard house

It was not until around 1960 that new types of houses really came into their own. Actual standard houses of both foreign and Faroese manufacture now also became more common, as many people started to dream of having a detached house, preferably with a garden. The Faroese bank, Færøernes Sparekasse, arranged a competition for the exemplary detached house. The architect J.P. Gregoriussen won the competition in 1961. A few houses of this type were built as inspiration for future building projects. To a lesser extent, contractors have been in charge of the construction of large terraced housing developments. Town architect Gunnar Hoydal realised some successful urban plans, including ribbon developments, especially on the outskirts of Tórshavn. This area also had room for a fairly anarchic self-build approach, where the municipality accepted that in certain buildings in the fringe areas, initially there were no other requirements than a fire wall between the houses. Within the fire walls, everyone could create the house they wanted, which led to a relatively heterogeneous expression.

Since the year 2000, population has grown significantly and thus also the need for new housing. The quality of the housing construction is generally good, and the expression of the houses today is far more diverse than seen in the first half of the 20th century.

Other buildings

In the past, the church was usually the largest house in the village. Apart from a few stone churches, the churches we know from the 19th century were stave buildings with turf roofs which matched the other buildings. It was not until later that other architectural principles were applied in church construction.

After compulsory education was introduced in 1872, school buildings were erected in most villages. They were schools with one or two classrooms and sometimes an apartment in the school’s attic for the teacher. When the Brethren congregation and Home Mission came to the Faroe Islands around 1900, they built their own meeting houses, which fitted in well with the other buildings.

Eventually, the old schools became too small, and from the 1950, in some places before, larger primary schools were built with two or three floors, many of which look the same. In some cases, they were supplemented with more anonymous imported prefabricated schools. Production buildings, sports facilities, bank buildings and buildings for administrative functions and an airport terminal also started to characterise the building landscape.

At one point, the Faroe Islands were on the verge of demolishing several historic buildings. This was averted by arranging a competition for the future of the historic Tinganes in 1969. The old town in Tórshavn was threatened by the town’s largescale development and was falling into disrepair. The competition was won by Gunnar Hoydal, whose project meant that Tinganes today stands as one of the finest urban preservations in the Nordic region. Gunnar Hoydal later became Tórshavn’s town architect and he had great impact on urban development in Tórshavn.

Thanks to the development, which really kicked off 50 years ago, the Faroe Islands today have consultants spread over many different design studios.

Architects’ buildings

At an early stage, the Danish civil service in the Faroe Islands used professional, usually Danish, architects and builders. The pompous chief administrative officer’s residence built in 1880‑81 from dressed Faroese basalt was designed by H.C. Amberg; the builder was Frederik Anton Bald, who was also active as a builder in Iceland. In the period around 1900, he constructed several civil servant’s houses and some merchant’s houses in Tórshavn.

With its building crafts programme, Vallekilde Højskole (Vallekilde Folk High School) in Denmark inspired many of the Faroese craftsmen who had studied at the school, and this is reflected in the architecture around the year 1900, both in residential houses and other buildings. Among these were Niclas J. Niclasen who is said to have designed the Faroe Islands’ first navigation school and Arnes Minde, which served as town council house in Tórshavn for many years. Hans Christoffer Andreassen, called Hans á Reyni, also built several residential houses and the village hall Tórshøll in Tórshavn. Magnus Jacobsen, called Magnus á Kamarinum, designed residential houses and several churches, including the church in Sandavágur.

But the best known was Hans Christoffer Wenningsted Tórgarð who was both a builder and an architect. He published a number of important works on Faroese building style in a historical perspective. He took a critical look at the new cross-plan house, the layout of which, in his opinion, did not fit very well with the requirements for a home in Faroese society. He gave examples of how, without major costs, it would be possible to develop the old Faroese building tradition and modernise it by using new building materials such as concrete, galvanised tile and sawn timber. The large residential houses include merchant Valdemar Lützen’s private residence and the country doctor’s official residence, both of which are located in Sigmundargøta in Tórshavn and are examples of well-proportioned wooden buildings with a stone foundation. Tórgarð also designed and constructed several large buildings. Among them are the Catholic school, St. Frans Skole, and the Catholic church in Tórshavn (1933); both are built of wood and adapt well to the size of the town. This also applies to one of his main works, the theatre building Sjónleikarhúsið (1926) in the heart of Tórshavn. Mention should also be made of the national hospital Dronning Alexandrines Hospital (1921‑23) and Færø Amts Bibliotek (the Faroe County Library) (1931). Tórgarð also designed a large number of churches, including the churches in Skúvoy (1937), Skála (1940), Hvannasund (1949) and Elduvík (1951).

After World War II, Olaf Mortensen broke with the earlier tradition; he represents a more closed architecture that is more brutal in both form and expression. His main works are Sjómansskúlin, the navigation school in Tórshavn (1962) and Føroya Studentaskúli (1965), the high school in Hoydalar. The two buildings are similar in appearance and do not relate to the softer identity previously seen in Faroese buildings. This can to some extent be seen in the many new school buildings erected from the 1950s onwards. Among these is Tórshavnar kommunuskúli (1954‑56), which has now been renovated and converted into the Finsen hall of residence.

In 1960, another architect emerged, Jákup Pauli Gregoriussen, from whose studio the next generation of Faroese architects was hatched. His first major task was, in collaboration with the designer Kristoffur Kristoffersen, to design Ebenezer, the Brethren congregation’s meeting house in the centre of Tórshavn (1963), a building that in many ways came to characterise the design studio’s work in the field of concrete construction. His designs also include the post office in Klaksvík (1967), the old-age and nursing home in Miðvágur (1967) and the primary school in Hvalba (1973). These buildings are more traditional and without much drama – focus is on proportions and on the roof forming a fifth facade. Later concrete buildings include the new National Library, Landsbókasavnið (1979), the Eysturskúlin primary school (1980) in eastern Tórshavn, the broadcasting house Útvarp Føroya (1982, extended in 1998 and 2016, respectively) and the technical college’s boarding house Skúlaheimið (1983) as well as the art museum Listskálin (1970/1989). All of these buildings are located in Tórshavn. These years, the design studio is looking into the possibilities of concrete, but in an expression that is far from previous Faroese building style. Later building projects include Føroya Sparikassi’s new building on Tinghúsvegur in Tórshavn (1985), a glass and stone building that adapts to the old urban environment and yet has its own expression. In his older years, Gregoriussen has gained a greater understanding of tradition, which he has also illustrated in his many book publications.

The period is otherwise characterised more by brutalism, postmodernism and other international movements than by a particular Faroese architectural development. It may therefore come as a surprise that especially buildings designed by foreign design studios are inspired by the Faroese environment. Among these can be mentioned a building erected by the Defence Construction Service, the building of radar station and NATO base in Mjørkadalur (1963), whose choice of materials is well-proportioned to the place and is based on Faroese tradition. These buildings have turf roofs, wooden cladding, an architectural breakup of the large volume and a new interpretation of the place. The same also applies to the two buildings Hotel Føroyar (1983), designed by the Danish architects Friis and Moltke, and the Nordic House (1982), designed by Norwegian Ola Steen in collaboration with Kolbrún Ragnarsdóttir from Iceland.

The Danish state has also been in charge of the construction of several buildings from the 1960s to the 1980s, including Christianskirkjan (Christian’s Church) i Klaksvík, designed by Peter Koch (1963). The Mental Hospital (1968) was designed by Carlo and Ole Odgaard. Føroya Læraraskúli/Venjingarskúlin (Faroese Teachers’ School/primary school) was designed by Stærmose’s design studio (1967). The Skúlin á Trøðni special school was designed by Erik Berg (1969). In Tórshavn, Holm & Grut are behind the Vesturkirkjan church (1974).

In the 1980s, Árni Winther’s design studio emerged from J.P. Gregoriussen’s design studio. So did the design studios Jórun í Dali & Høgni Larsen and Albert Isfeld & Gudmund Hansen, while Tróndur Fuglø opened his design studio (later called FUGLARK) in Klaksvík earlier. These design studios were behind most building projects for two decades. For example, Árni Winther designed the new Catholic church Mariukirkjan in Tórshavn (1987), Albert Isfeld & Gudmund Hansen designed the old-age and nursing home Lágargarður in Tórshavn (1988), and Høgni Larsen is behind the new Fríðrikskirkjan á Nesi on Eysturoy (1992).

When the economic crisis hit in the early 1990s, it also had major consequences for the architectural profession and the construction industry. Almost a decade passed before construction resumed and new design studios were established.

A representative of the latest architecture is the building erected for the bank Eik Banki (now Betri Banki) in Fuglafjørður in 2007, designed by Arkitektar 99. When the bank’s local branch was closed, the municipality bought the building, which is now the municipal office.

Bank Nordik’s round glass headquarters in Tórshavn (2015) was designed by MAP Arkitektar. At Húsareyn outside Tórshavn, there is also an inspiring battery park for wind turbines designed by Árni Winther (2017). Recent large building projects include the new high school in Tórshavn, Glasir from 2018, which is the result of a much debated architectural competition from 2010 won by the Danish architectural firm BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group. The glass building, which has become a landmark for the town, houses both the traditional upper secondary education, upper secondary business programmes and technical education in Tórshavn. In the same area is Føroya Musikskúli, designed by Kontrast (2018) and the town’s newest and largest primary school, Skúlin á Fløtum, designed by ZETA Arkitektar in collaboration with Brim Arkitektar and Árni Winther Arkitektar (2020). In Gøta, mention should be made of Ósbjørn Jacobsen-arkitektar’s town council house (2019) and the small football stadium Tórsvøllur in Tórshavn, designed by MAP Arkitektar (2021).

In recent years, several new building projects have been carried out in connection with increased tourism, and these include Hotel Hilton Garden Inn (2020), Hotel Brandan (2020), the extension of Hotel Føroyar (2020) and the new airport terminal. Moreover, a new hotel is being planned in Klaksvík.

Further reading

• Bundni Steinurin (The Knitted Rock)
• Churches on the Faroe Islands
• Crafts and design on the Faroe Islands
• Gøtu Fornminnisfelag (Museum Association)
• Havnar Kirkja (Tórshavn Cathedral)
• Museums of cultural history and heritage on the Faroe Islands
• Religion and religious communities on the Faroe Islands
• The bishop’s palace complex
• The Magnus Cathedral
• The parish church in Kirkjubøur
• Tradition and tales on the Faroe Islands
• Visual arts on the Faroe Islands

Read more about Culture on the Faroe Islands