Page 63 - Hotel Tunnel's 100 Years of History

of 666 riksdaler for use as living quarters. He also retained the right to use the lower floor for kitchens, pantries, and service rooms on either side of the entrance hall in the west wing, the basement under this part of the house, and the east of the gate (on Kyrkogatan), as well as the corner on Adelgatan and Kansligatan (now the Tunnel's former basement space), a stable and feed room for six horses and three cows, room for two carriages, half of the attics above the living quarters, a coach house, and shared use of the brewery and gates.
On July 10th, 1809, Mayor Nordlindh received permission from the magistrates "in regards to ongoing renovations" to close Kansliga-
tan for properties numbered 353 and 354. These renovations took place during the spring of 1810. During this time, he sold properties numbered 352-354 on March 16th of that year for 22,000 riksdaler with possession rights on the next Michaelmas to merchant Lorens Kockum, in exchange for Kockum's property numbered 220, 111, in the 45th St. Peter district by Ostergatan for a value of 6,333 riksdaler
. Kockum paid a middle fee of 15,666 riksdaler for the exchange. The buyers were given notice on the properties on March 19th, April 16th, and May 14th of that year. As part of the exchange, Nordlindh agreed to finish the ongoing renovations to the upper floors of the sold pro- perty, but retained the right to reside in the upper floors of the proper- ty for three years, starting from Michaelmas 1810, in exchange for an annual rent of 666 riksdaler
It was believed that the real estate deal between Silfverskjold and Stahle was made during a gambling game where Silfverskjold put
his aforementioned properties in the game and ended up losing. However, it appears that the final outcome of the property exchange was not as unfavorable for Silfverskjold. At this time, there was a trend of buying and building houses in the city, mainly due to the arrival
of a skilled builder, hovkonduktoren Sundstrom. People were buying and building houses without considering their ability to do so. This led to a steep increase in the prices of building materials. One of the people affected by this building craze was the already wealthy busi- nessman Nordlindh who rebuilt a large part of his house, now owned by the company Barkman & Bergh. He soon sold the house, leading to speculation that he had higher goals in mind. To meet the demands of creditors, all house purchases were made in the form of exchanges and it became a skill to make these exchanges as complex as possible and even include clothing and accessories as part of the exchange. As an example of the fluctuation of property values, the aforementioned house was later exchanged for another house for a sum of 16,666 riks- daler and within 10 years, it was bought again for 12500 riksdaer.
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