Town House from Tollbugata 14

This structure represents the average Christiania townhouse in terms of size and usage. The building is half-timbered. The ground floor facing the street is the oldest part of the building, dating from the early 1600s. The bookbinder Frederik Jacobsen Brun owned the house from the end of the 1600s until 1741. During this time the buildings were built and rebuilt and eventually came to form an enclosed square around a courtyard.

The buildings have two stories and an open gallery lines two sides of the upper story. The living quar­ters were in the original part of the build­ing, the floor above it and the upper floor in the right wing. The main floor in the right wing was the bookbindery. Between the living room and the entrance to the courtyard is a narrow kitchen with an enormous fireplace. Above the living room and kitchen is a big room used for special occasions.

Across from the living quarters is the barn with a hay loft above. In 1787 there were two horses and three cows kept in the barn. The townspeople were dependent on the nearby fields to fulfill their daily needs. This is the only remaining half-timbered building from Christiania.