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5: THE THAMS DYNASTY

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Timber From Trøndelag
To The World

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Strandheim Brug was established at Orkedalsøren in 1867 by Wilhelm Thams. After a fire in 1872, the sawmill was rebuilt, larger and more modern – now under the management of Wilhelm’s son Marentius. Marentius had already built up the country’s largest export business for fresh salmon, and he would now develop the sawmill and lumber business at Strandheim to become the largest in Norway.

 

When Marentius’ son Christian established an architecture firm in Nice, the company received another boost. He facilitated the export of prefab houses from Orkedalsøren to Europe, the USA, and the colonies in South America, Africa and Asia. Christian took over the operation of M. Thams & Co in 1893. As manager, he cracked down hard on the sawmill workers’ attempts to unionise. He also made ambitious plans for industrialised mining and the construction of a railway.

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Honourable assignment

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In 1893, it was time for the Chicago World’s Fair, and M. Thams & Co was given the prestigious assignment of building the Norwegian pavilion. Architect Waldemar Hansteen designed a building heavily inspired by Norwegian stave churches, and the sawmill at Orkedalsøren produced the building – in less than 90 days!

 

The Thams Pavilion – known in the USA as ‘The Norway Building’ – was one of the few buildings allowed to live on after the World’s Fair. After being moved around the USA for a while, the pavilion returned home to Orkdal in 2017. It now sits at Bårdshaug Herregård and remains open to the public.

 

The model of the Thams Pavilion was made by Ola Neraune, a local woodcarver.       

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Pictures from
Christian Thams’ photo album

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  • Christian (2) wearing a gown and knickers at the photographer in Trondheim

  • Christian (4) the same year the family moved from Trondheim to Orkedalsøren

  • Young student and amateur actor in Zurich. Christian is lying down in the front, with his future wife Eléonore de Spengler sitting directly behind him.

  • Eléonore and Christian married in Vevey, Switzerland in 1886. Here is the bride and groom with Christian’s mother and his best man.

  • Christian and Eléonore had a daughter, Emily Ida Eléonore (Bébé), in 1888. This christening photo was sent from Nice to the family in Norway.

  • At 25, Christian was made a French consular agent in Trondheim.

  • At the Chicago World's Fair against a backdrop of the Niagara Falls. Christian was there both as a jury member and as a representative of the family company M. Thams & Co.

  • In the courtyard back home at the Strandheim farm. Christian is number four from the right. His father Marentius is on the steps and his brother Wilhelm right in front of them.

  • Family photo with two dogs. Christian behind to the left, Eleonore in front with Bébé on her lap.

  • Mathilde Fredrikke Christiansen (Matty, number two from the right) was herself only 19 when she became a nanny for 14-year-old Bébé (to the left), and the two also became good friends. The photo is from the Bårdshaug loft.

  • Founders of Orkla Grube-Aktiebolag gathered at the Fjellheim hunting lodge in Meldal. From the left: Fredrik Lövenadler, Mr. Næss, Jacob Roll Finne, Per K. Wikström, Thorvald Olrog, Joachim Mogens Berner, self-proclaimed CEO Christian Thams and Marius M. Selmer.

  • Mother Eleonore and daughter Bébé at the photographer in Trondheim

  • Christian purchased Songlia in Orkdal in 1907. With 22,000 acres of private hunting grounds, there was plenty of room to accommodate family, friends and business associates.

  • Christian with his dog at the newly acquired Songlia hunting paradise

  • Christian and King Haakon VII at the Thamshavn docks during the opening of the Thamshavn Line

  • Tea party for selected guests at Bårdshaug after the opening of the Thamshavn Line. This was how it had to be when the king didn’t have time for dinner.

  • Nanny Matty Christiansen and Christian eventually became a couple. Here we see them on the veranda at Bårdshaug around 1909 – around the same time that Christian and Eleonore divorced.

  • Brothers Wilhelm and Christian Thams on the steps outside Songlia

  • Christian on one of his many hunting trips in Tanzania / Kenya. The rhino’s head was eventually placed on the wall in the Bårdshaug study.

  • Hunting in Kenya / Tanzania. A large local crew carrying equipment and pulling a cart.

  • Prince Albert I of Monaco (Albert Honoré Charles Grimaldi) has killed a stag at Songlia

  • Christian and Minister of Foreign Affairs Nils Claus Ihlen on the Songlia steps

  • Producing copra from coconuts on a plantation in Mozambique. The company running the plantation, Société du Madal, was established by Prince Albert I of Monaco and Christian in 1910.

  • Christian visiting Eléonore and Bébé in Menton, France. Christian bought this villa for Eléonore when they separated in 1909, and she lived there until her death in 1920.

  • Matty and Christian with two antelopes they have shot

  • A crew of 180 ensured that Christian and his hunting team remained comfortable on this hunting trip in Tanzania / Kenya

  • Matty and Christian’s nephew Billy (Wilhelm August Thams) with four lions they have shot. Big game hunter and tour operator Alfred J. Klein in the middle.

  • The lioness has been shot and Christian is feeding the cub.

  • Matty and Christian on a boat trip in 1921, the year they got married.

  • Christian and Matty had a daughter, Inger Christine (Vesla), in 1925.

  • Christian and Vesla in Nice. «Knowledge is good, health and happiness is better. Birds and animals are the nicest things to have» was one of Christian’s words of wisdom to his daughter.

  • Christian was involved in three French companies exploring deposits of gold, platinum and other valuable minerals in Ethiopia. Here he is in Addis Ababa with Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister (left), Prince Sixte de Bourbon (middle) and Ethiopia’s Minister of War (far right).

  • Christian (in the middle) on one of his many business trips by airplane. To his left is his nephew and secretary Billy.

  • Christian in Bucharest in 1939 with friend and business partner Hector de Béarn, de Béarn's daughter and her friend. Due to the hostilities, Christian was stuck in Romania until the end of the war.

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Items from the
Thams family travel case

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A suitcase with Wilhelm Thams’ initials. Underpants, straw hat and casual clothes. An African container with lid, small boxes for tobacco and sweets. French magazines, travel mirrors and razors. Programmes from events on the continent. Intricately labelled fragments from Pompeii, the Roman Forum and other exciting travel destinations.

 

The Thams family sent Trøndelag goods out into the world – and brought pieces of the world back to Trøndelag.

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