Pleiestiftelsen’s garden – promenades and kitchen garden

The hospital’s estate was about five acres, and everything was designed as ‘a garden and paths where the sick could walk.’ The location was exposed to a lot of wind, so trees and shrubs were planted to provide shelter and shade. Flower beds were also planted.

The annual report from 1863 describes that there were plants everywhere and that paths had been made everywhere the terrain allowed – ‘by doing so, the hospital’s surroundings have benefitted significantly, and now provide quite satisfactory promenades for the residents.’

The soil was not considered particularly fertile, but a kitchen garden was built nonetheless. In 1864, it is said they harvested 3 barrels of onions, 2 ½ barrels of swede, 5 barrels of carrots and 1 barrel of turnips – ‘of which everything is consumed by the hospital’s household’. The following year, the garden is described as attracting increasing ‘interest and care from the residents’, but there was nonetheless no greater yield from the kitchen garden.

Originally, the grounds extended down to Store Lungegårdsvann, where there was a boathouse, and at times, a boat the residents could use. Many of the residents were from coastal areas and would have really appreciated this. There was also a nursery garden where flowers were grown and sold at the market. Patients were responsible for selling flowers for many years, up until the nursery was closed in the 1930s.

Much of the area was lost when the railway was relocated along the east side of the bay, and only a small part of the original garden currently remains. You can admire the large beautiful trees that are still standing, but otherwise just have to imagine what the large garden may have looked like.