Aerial view of the Hlíðar neighborhood in 1961. Here you can see how the neighborhood has developed around Reykjahlíðar town. Photographer: Gunnar Rúnar Ólafsson.

Farmsteads in Reykjavík

Reykjahlíð

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries drainage of marshland began in Reykjavík territory. The drained land was allocated for farming under leases with inheritance rights. Grassfields were cultivated on farms and smallholdings in these areas, where animal husbandry and agriculture were established. Such farms played an important role at that time, when dairy products were always in short supply in the growing town of Reykjavík.

Hlíðahverfi 1955. At the front of the picture you can see where an apartment building by Bogahlið is under construction. On the left you can see the farm Reykjahlíð, which stood in the street parking lot of Stakkahlíð. Fjær are residential buildings at Mávahlíð and Barmahlíð photo: Borgarskipulag

With the expansion of Reykjavík during and after World War II, and the construction of new districts east of the old town, most of the farms made way for new housing, but in some cases the original farmhouses were integrated into the developments and remain standing among homes of a later period.

Aerial photo from 1954. Here you can see e.g. see some of the farms that were built in these areas in the first decades of the 20th century. Information signs about Háteig and Sunnuhvol can be found at the corner of Háteigsvegar and Rauðarárstíg and about Eskihlíð at the end of the street of the same name.

A number of farms were established in Norðurmýri and in the area between Rauðarárholt and Öskjuhlíð. One of them was Reykjahlíð, which stood here, at the eastern end of Mávahlíð –  the present Stakkahlíð. In 1923 a farm was established at Reykjahlíð by Gestur Guðmundsson (1889-1974).  It became one of Reykjavík‘s major sheep farms, and remained in operation until the mid-1960s. Gestur built a small concrete house at Reykjahlíð with barn, cattleshed and storehouse, where he lived with his wife Guðrún Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir (1887-1968) and their seven children. Keeping both sheep and cattle, Gestur distributed milk to the people of Reykjavík by horse-cart. By the late 1940s he was Reykjavík‘s leading sheep farmer, with 120 head.  At that time the western part of the Hlíðar district had been completed and the eastern part was under construction. Plans provided for a new street, Stakkahlíð, to be constructed across the site of the Reykjahlíð farmhouse. A period of grace allowed farming to continue while the street was laid on either side. Gestur continued to keep sheep at Reykjahlíð until the City of Reykjavík purchased his land and buildings in 1964, after which the buildings were demolished and the construction of Stakkahlíð was completed. One of the streets in the district is named after the old farm, Reykjahlíð.

Looking from Öskjuhlíð northeast across Hafnarfjarðarveg 1924. Reykjahlíð can be seen in the middle of the picture. In the picture, a formwork for a railway track that runs from the excavator to the right of the picture. The cold water reservoir at Rauðarholt, by Háteigsveg, can be seen in the distance. The farm Háteigur (the old town) can be seen on the far left. Photographer: Peter J. Sørå