Kalmar kn, KVARNHOLMEN 2:20 KLAPPHUSET - Kalmar, Kalmar Län, Sweden
N 56° 40.018 E 016° 22.255
33V E 584019 N 6281154
The old wash house "Klapphuset" from 1857 in Kalmar was rebuilt in the early twentieth century. It is still in use for the public to wash carpets.
Waymark Code: WM18MD3
Location: Kalmar, Sweden
Date Posted: 08/23/2023
Views: 2
The wash house "Klapphuset" (literally translated to "folding house") on Östra Vallgatan on Kvarnholmen in Kalmar was built for the population as early as April 1857 because the Kalmar magistrate was of the opinion that the open wash rafts used at the time were unhealthy and that the people should be protected from the elements during doing the laundry. The place at Kvarnholmen was the first one of four in the municipality.
The walls of the wash house were built on sunken tree trunks forming stilts, a footbridge was built to the door and a floating floor was installed inside the wash house, which has a rectangular hole in the middle to the water. Four human-sized buckets that you stand in make washing easier because of the posture you achieve. The high board on one side of the buckets protects from falling over and additionally allows the patting of the laundry.
In the period between 1902 and 1906 the former wash house was replaced by the current one. From the 1930s onwards, music was regularly played in the Klapphuset, but from the 1960s onwards the wash house became increasingly dilapidated because more and more households in the area had a washing machine.
The population decided against demolition and restored large parts of the wash house in 1976. In 1983 the wash house was listed as the last of its kind in Kalmar (and probably in all of Sweden). The Klapphuset is still used today to wash carpets.
References:
- Klapphuset, Swedish Wikipedia
- Hon ser charmen i att tvätta i Klapphuset, article in the "Kalmarposten"
- Kalmar kn, KVARNHOLMEN 2:20 KLAPPHUSET, entry in the Riksantikvarieämbetet