Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Hótel Björninn (c. 1928–c. 1950) – Lost Tables
The house at Vesturgata 2 was built in 1906 by the merchant Ágúst Flygenring and was known for its turret with a turnip-shaped roof; around 1928 Guðrún Eiríksdóttir bought it and made it a small hotel with about eight rooms and a hall for some 160 guests, named Björninn after the mountain Þorbjörn n
The house at Vesturgata 2 was built in 1906 by the merchant Ágúst Flygenring and was known for its turret with a turnip-shaped roof; around 1928 Guðrún Eiríksdóttir bought it and made it a small hotel with about eight rooms and a hall for some 160 guests, named Björninn after the mountain Þorbjörn near Grindavík, the first hotelier's home town. It became one of Hafnarfjörður's most popular dance halls, where clubs held their balls and the Hungarian cellist Vincent Farkas led a band in the mid-1930s; musicians such as Jónatan Ólafsson, Magnús Randrup and Vilhjálmur Guðjónsson played there, and after the war Blástakkatríóið, Swingbandið and Árni Ísleifsson's band. Svava Jónsdóttir bought it in 1938, followed by Ólafur Guðlaugsson, formerly of Hótel Borg, who ran it until it closed. British troops largely took the place over in 1940, and at the worst of it Ólafur held dances for Icelanders only. Trade dwindled after the war and the hotel closed around 1950; the turret was removed in the 1960s to widen Reykjavíkurvegur, and the building was demolished in 1970.
Building gone (demolished 1970)
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