Architecture in Stockholm
The buildings that survive from this period are mostly churches and royal buildings, since these were built from more durable materials than most other buildings from that period. Birger Jarls torn ("The Tower Of Birger Jarl") was considered the oldest building in the entire city, however, it is now known to have been erected by Gustav Vasa in the 16th century. The Riddarholmen Church from the late 13th century is considered to be the oldest surviving building in Stockholm. While it came to serve as the church of choice for royal burials, another church, the Storkyrkan ("Great Church") came to be used for coronations. Both of the churches have been redesign several times since their erection.
Västerlånggatan
The current building on Number 54 was, according to an inscription on the portal, completed in 1662, but parts of the building are considerably older, the first owner, a Diedrik Skekerman from Lübeck, appearing in historical records as a lodger and innkeeper in 1589-1597. The portal is made of red limestone and possibly designed by Nicodemus Tessin the Elder. In the basement of the building, five metres under street level, a sealed round arched tunnel have been found, thought to have led under Västerlånggatan to Prästgatan and to have been built as an escape route in case the Danes would take the city. One of the oldest second-hand bookshops in Sweden, Aspingtons Antikvariat, was located here 1978–2001. The building is today owned by the trade union for the employees of the Customs and Coastguard ("Tull-Kust").
Number 63, including its Neo-Rococo ornaments and green shutters, is the family heirloom of the Torndahls. The building was bought by the goldsmith Per Gustaf Torndahl in the mid 19th century and his shop was continued by his widow, Ida Tekla Sabina Cunigunda who also added the ornaments. The grandchildren of Gustaf and Ida are still carefully minding the building and operating the handicraft shop still present on the address.
Barely visible in the red sandstone cartouche of the portal of Number 65 is a Christogram, IHS, the maxim ("To God alone the glory"), and the initials of the Holstein cloth trader Peter Hanssen and his wife Anna Steker: