Tales of the Table · Tales of the Table
Hótel Hekla (1924–c. 1942) – Lost Tables
The building facing Lækjartorg had been the Thomsen Magasin store of the merchant Thomsen family since 1889; Guðmundur Kr. Guðmundsson bought it in 1923, renovated it and opened a guesthouse that became Hótel Hekla in 1924.
The building facing Lækjartorg had been the Thomsen Magasin store of the merchant Thomsen family since 1889; Guðmundur Kr. Guðmundsson bought it in 1923, renovated it and opened a guesthouse that became Hótel Hekla in 1924. Rooms were upstairs, and the restaurant hall below held weekend dances and afternoon music, with house bands led by Poul Bernburg and Karl Matthíasson from 1928 to 1930; the Federation of Icelandic Artists (Bandalag íslenskra listamanna) was founded in the building in 1928. When Hótel Borg opened nearby in 1930 with live music, Hekla largely stopped hiring bands until the late thirties. During the war it became a hangout for British soldiers and lost its glamour, and hotel operations ended around spring 1942; the town bought the building at auction in 1943. It later housed workers on the city's hot-water project and city offices before it was demolished in 1961.
Building demolished in 1961
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