Craftsmen preserve Reykjavík’s century-old Höfði building

Reykjavík’s Höfði reception house still has considerable life left despite being more than a century old, according to craftsman Björgvin S. Stefánsson. The comments were reported by mbl.is.

Stefánsson is the managing director of Þúsund fjalir, a company specialising in repairs and renovations to old buildings. The company has worked on Höfði, which stands on Borgartún and is owned by Reykjavík City.

Þúsund fjalir first became involved with the building after a fire broke out in its attic in 2009. Firefighting required large quantities of water, leaving the company to handle drying and repairs caused by water damage.

“There was hardly a dry piece of timber left in the building after the firefighting,” Stefánsson said. Extensive drying equipment had to be installed, but both the building and its contents were ultimately saved.

Other projects at Höfði have included asbestos removal, changes and renovation work in the kitchen, repairs to the building’s northeast gable and general maintenance. The company has also recently repaired the wireless telegraph mast beside the building.

A wireless telegraph receiving station operated there from 1905 under the Marconi company. The poet and businessman Einar Benediktsson was one of the main figures behind the project and represented the company in Iceland.

On June 26, 1905, Iceland received a wireless telegraph message directly from abroad for the first time. The message was sent from the Marconi station in Poldhu, Cornwall, to the station at Rauðarártún, where Höfði now stands.

The transmission marked a turning point. Until then, foreign news had mainly arrived by ship and could take days or weeks. The station could receive messages but not send them, making the connection one-way. Even so, it marked Iceland’s first electronic connection with other countries.

Höfði itself had not yet been built at the time. The house was brought to Iceland from Norway in 1909 and became the residence of the French consul. Einar Benediktsson later owned it for a period and called it Héðinshöfði, a name that was eventually shortened in everyday use to Höfði.

By the middle of the 20th century, Reykjavík City had acquired the building.