During the past 50 years Skövde has changed a lot, and this becomes very clear when you look at old photographs – sometimes it even feels as if you are in an entirely different city! A town has to change to develop, and sometimes that means that some buildings must be torn down to leave space for new ones. When it comes to Skövde, after working with this series and looking at an infinite number of old pictures, I think that way too many houses were allowed to decay and become a victim for the excavators.
Anna Warner
This house, built in the late 1700’s, was situated on Storgatan. Dorothea and Charlotte von Haugwitz donated the house to the city in the late 1800’s. On March 13 Skövde city received the building to be used as a home for women without means. But not everyone was welcome…
The testament says that the house should only be for “the elderly, alone, godly, respectable, financially needy women in Sköfde city”. They should also belong to pauvres honteux – that is women from the bourgeoisie or upper class who, for some reason, have become poor.
Today the Haugwitz Foundation, along with other foundations, own two houses with apartments that caters for anyone with financial needs.