In the book Illustrated Newspaper from 1869 I found this awesome picture of a new parliament building designed by the architect Valfrid Karlson. Valfrid's proposal won 1st prize in the architectural competition for how the Riksdag house should look, but his proposal was sorted out (!) probably by the competition leader Hugo Zettervall, who was head of the Office of the Superintendent, who instead put forward the name of his assistant Aron Johanson.
It's a shame that the proposal was not carried out, but crony corruption usually pays off in the banana monarchy - so there is probably some kind of symbolism in the fact that our Riksdag house was not allowed to reach its full potential.
Among other competitions that Valfrid won, there is also a proposal for an Opera House. The opera house was designed instead by Axel Anderberg, who won 2nd prize. Axel's prize consisted of him getting to travel and study theater buildings...
Valfrid Karlsson was never accepted by the establishment, and almost never got to see his projects realized, but he designed, among other things, Bellmansgatan 6 (Laurinska huset) and myself when I ride the subway I often look up at the house on one of the most fantastic buildings in Stockholm. Imagine if Valfrid's buildings had been built - Stockholm would have been more beautiful!
About The Author
English 
Svenska