A brief summary:
Jacob Kielland (1726-1788) merchant and founder of the trading enterprise ‘Jacob Kielland & Son’, leased the plot B1 at Eiganes on October 3, 1771. After having cleared the plot, he managed to buy a part of the plot called ‘Canaan’ in 1773, and here he built a small wooden house, one story high, and with a dormer window. The barn, cowshed and stables were all under one roof and two other outhouses were also built. Behind the summer house, a small baroque garden was designed in accordance with the plans of the German gardener, Christian Gotthelf Kalbus. Later Kielland acquired the leasehold to two more plots which were known locally as "Ørkenen" (The Desert) and "det steenige og det lykkelige Arabien" (The Stony and Happy Arabia).
We do not know exactly what this summer residence looked like, but there is much to indicate that it resembled the listed building "Bækkelund" in Stokkaveien. Most of the furniture and fittings, which had been bought in Copenhagen and London, have been preserved. Some of these items were passed on to Sølyst as heirlooms, while some items are still to be found at Ledaal.
Following the death of Jacob Kielland the management of the firm was taken over by his son, Gabriel Schanche Kielland (1760-1821). The company was soon to become one of the biggest in Norway. Gabriel Schanche Kielland acquired a permanent leasehold of the four plots and later cleared other surrounding plots. In his poen "Egenæs", Jens Zetlitz described in detail the enormous amount of work put into the development of this area. He especially praises Kielland’s wife, Johanna Margaretha Bull (1756-1818) for the energy and diligence in her efforts to plant a garden to the south of the buildings.
Gabriel Schanche Kielland was a leading citizen in Stavanger. He participated in its public life as leader of the Civic Representation (Borgerrepresentasjonen) and Commander of the Civic Guard (Kommandant for borgergarden), and was in addition one of the town’s leading traders. Under the favorable conjunctions by which the ongoing war between England and France created for neutral countries, Kielland expanded his shipping and trading activities so that the firm became one of the biggest in Norway. In 1803 he received the gold medal for noble achievements, in recognition of the help he had given the population during the corn shortage. In the same year he was also chosen to be an Agent of the Crown, with judicial rank. In 1809 he was made a Knight of Dannebrog. His home was the center of society in Stavanger. The summer residence which he had taken over from his father no longer befitted his social status, and he therefore decided to demolish the old buildings at Eiganes and build a small manor house, similar to those he knew in England and Denmark.
Four masons from Copenhagen started constructing the now existing Ledaal in 1799, and the building was taken into use in 1803. Sandstone was brought from Bornholm and iron and brass equipment from Scotland. In 1800 the carpenter, Niels Juel, was requested to come from Copenhagen to take care of the interior decorating. He was especially asked to acquaint himself with the building of modern staircases, which ‘were positioned within the main structure and where lamps could be hung in every story to light up the staircase’.
In 1801 Kielland gave a common name to all the plots he had acquired at Egenes. The name was Ledaal. He also promised a prize of money and an elegant party for anyone who could guess the origins of the name, but no one guessed it. The explanation was found among his papers when he died. The name is made up of the last letters of his own and his wife’s names: Gabriel Schanche Kielland, Johanna Margaretha Bull.
The second story of the building was reserved for entertaining and festivities, while the living quarters were restricted to the first story and the attic.
The architecture is a mixture of old and new. A conservative feature which belongs to the Northern European baroque style, is that the windows on the second story are recessed so that the central wall sections stand as pilasters on the demarcation line between the floors. The rounded off corners on the second floor show the influence of the Danish rococo architecture, as does the lower floor which, with its smooth surfaces and small windows, creates a pedestal for what is above. The central section is set off by a little pediment on the roof, with a connected recessed area above the three windows. The doors on both floors, as well as the balcony, (which is the oldest in the country) serve the same purpose. The emphasizing of the facade’s horizontal lines and gables with the countersunk wall around the upper windows are again traits we see in Eastern Norwegian military architecture, inspired by classicism. The saddle roof with its bevelled corners, dormer windows and oeil-de-boeufs also has cornices and pediments that have close parallels in Danish architecture of the time. A new feature in Norway at that time was the large windowpanes, which until 1863 were also in the first floor windows.
Originally the building was not rendered, but the west walls were soon clad with wood and the facade was rendered and painted white. The house acquired its red color in the 1850s. However, the yard side has never been rendered.
The unusual pitched and rounded corners of the first floor function as problem solvers. These and the use of so many outdated motifs, makes one characterize the architect as an artistic dilettante of the old school. It is very probable that the building is drawn by the mason Hans Ditlef Gimmerdahl, who was requested from Copenhagen in 1799, and who worked with three other Danish masons.
The composition of the facade is therefore taken from the most recent monumental building that was taken into use while Kielland was living in Copenhagen in 1786-87, namely the Royal Shooting Gallery at Vesterbro.
Kielland was a guest in this building several times before the official opening. Ledaal’s roof is like one of Copenhagen’s roofs from that time, and the use of the pilasters between the windows is typical of Danish architecture from the beginning of the 1700s. Originally all the facades were unrendered with profiled pointing. The climate soon necessitated the wooden cladding of the west facade, the rendering of the south facade and the painting of the eastern wall. Traces of the original painting can still be seen on the north west corner.
When Gabriel Schanche Lielland died in 1821, Ledaal was left to his oldest son, Chamberlain Jens Bull Kielland (1787-1833). At the time he was living in Stockholm, but he moved into Ledaal in 1828 and lived there until he died. The property then went to his brothers, Jacob (1788-1863) and Jonas (1791-1852). Jacob’s son, Gabriel (1812-1863) lived here as a newly-wed for a few years, but Ledaal was otherwise still used as a location for entertaining and official functions and as a summer residence.
The death of Consul Jacob Kielland in 1863 was the beginning of a new era in the history of Ledaal. The old company, Jacob Kielland & Son, was dissolved and the land surrounding Ledaal was divided between three of his sons. The main building with the adjoining outhouse was taken over by Lieutenant Commander Jacob Kielland (1825-1889). He fitted out the house for year-round living, and ran the farm as a model farm. The most important change inside the house was that the ceremonial room was divided up to make rooms for every day use. This was done in an extremely reverent way so that the old wallpaper panels were kept intact. A porch and covered drive were built at the entrance facing the yard, and the gable of the facade was fitted with an acroterion and flagpole.
The outhouse was extended somewhat and a coach house was erected on the north side (demolished in 1963). The original formal and pure lines of the baroque garden were restructured by the Lieutenant Commander into the style of an English park. The long central driveway with a view towards Vålandshaugen was removed. The straight paths were replaced with winding paths and the flowerbeds were made into a large, round lawn. Instead of the tightly clipped hedges and alleys, evergreen flowering bushes and trees were planted. The French mansion garden was transformed into a romantic park. Over the years the trees and bushes have grown so much that the facade is now nearly hidden.
The last of the family to live at Ledaal was Lieutenant Commander Kielland’s son, Stipendary Magistrate, Jonas Schanche Kielland (1863-1930). He moved into the house in 1893, at the same time as a number of changes were being made to the first floor in order to make it a separate apartment. The west staircase was built in 1903 and a few minor changes to the interior were also made at that time. When Eiganesveien was widened in 1914, the garden fence was moved six meters, and three years later the Kielland family donated the entire park to the town.
By the time Stipendary Magistrate Kielland died, his family had moved away from the town. On the initiative of the Chairman of the Directors of Stavanger Museum, Consul Gustav A. Arentz, Ledaal was bought in 1936 by Stavanger Museum. In 1939 the descendants of Consul Arentz paid off the large mortgage so that the museum owned Ledaal outright.
The final plans for the restoration of Ledaal were based on the condition that the interiors should, as far as possible, be made to resemble how they were in the 1850s, and that the building should function as a manor house museum. It was also the intention that it could be used for special social functions and occasions. When it was determined that the house should again become the center for Stavanger’s social entertaining and be filled with life and festivity once more, the thought occurred that the house could also be used as a residence for the Royal Family. With these three goals in mind, royal residence, manor house museum, and the town’s center for special functions, Stavanger Museum has carried out the restoration of Ledaal.
The main principle guiding the furbishing of the interiors of the main building has been to use as much as possible of the furnishings that were in the house when it was bought in 1936. These have been supplemented by items from the museum collections and by gifts.
The park has to a great extent been returned to its original French style with the dominant central driveway, however, the beautiful old trees have been retained. At the end of the garden’s cross path lies the family burial ground of Gabriel Schanche Kielland and his wife, and his descendants of the same name. There are also members of the families of those related by marriage to the Schøitz and Zetlitz families. The graves were moved here from Kleven in 1938.
Ledaal was officially opened on September 28, 1949. Ledaal comes under the auspices of Stavanger Museum’s Department of Cultural History.