Exterior view

The Treaty of Kiel, signed in 1814, allowed Norway to develop politically and economically as an autonomous country under the Swedish crown. Crown Prince Karl Johann, now King of Norway, built his royal palace on a commanding hill north of Oslo. As his architect, he selected the Dane Hans Ditlev Franciscus Linstow, who planned the building as a complex of two wings joined by a central section of three floors; each of the wings were to be two floors in height. The main fa�ade featured a projection with an arcade on the ground floor topped with a portico. Designs for the interior were inspired by Schinkel.

Two years after starting work on the building, Linstow received a commission from the king to integrate the palace into an overall urban plan that would provide for the royal residence to be connected with the fjord along a central axis. Linstow designed for this a boulevard leading from the palace to the city’s cathedral. Todays Karl Johans gate reproduces this route more or less exactly.