Smörasken (Butter Dish)

West of the city, at the Storgatan/Västra Esplanaden junction, is Westerbottens Enskilda Bank’s first bank building – a plastered stone building in Renaissance style. Captain Axel Cederberg of the Road and Waterway Construction Service Corps, the city’s technical advisor at that time, designed the 1877 building.

The rustic ground floor, with its arched windows, contained the bank quarters and offices, and behind the upper floor’s classically framed windows were a large flat and three rooms for bachelors. The flat roof with a substantial base enclosed a low attic storey.

Local residents have given the distinctive yellow building with rounded corners the humorous name of “Butter Dish”. Today Umeå Energi AB has its headquarters on the block and uses the building as an office.

Källa: Umeå kommun
Text: Lena Tengnér