Restoration of Rådan’s Historic Ice House

There are very few examples of traditional ice houses left in Sweden. Rådan’s ice house is one of these. An ice house was used for keeping food cold before buildings had electricity and fridges. When Rådan was a girls’ school, the ice house was kept stocked with ice and acted as a refrigerator for the school’s food.

In the winter, enough blocks of ice were cut from the lake to fill the ice shed. The ice was then covered with sawdust. At the beginning of summer the blocks of ice were placed high up against the shelves and by August there wasn’t much ice left. The sawdust imparted a certain turpentine flavor to everything stored in the ice shed according to one source.

Sollentuna municipality maintains and preserves Rådan’s ice house and the park surrounding it. Starting at the end of November, Sollentuna municipality’s property management department, overseen by Kary Aarni,  will undertake a major renovation of the ice house and the park area around the building. The preservation work will take about two weeks to complete.