Garðhús, a small house that stands at a special place on Mýrargata, opposite Bakkastígur on the west side of Reykjavík Harbor, is quite special. Built in 1884 by Bjarni Oddson, maritime pilot and fisherman, and his wife Þuríður Eyjólfsdóttir. Garðhús is now one of the very few so-called stone houses still standing in Iceland. The couple’s granddaughter, Þuríður Dýrfinna Þorbjarnardóttir was born in the house in 1891, at thirty years old she was fluent in many languages, she was hired to work at Hotel Skjaldbreið, on Kirkjustræti, just west of the Parliament building, Alþingi. There she met the Marquis Henri Charles Raoul de Grimaldi d’Antibes et de Cagne from Monaco, and married him in the Cathedral in October 1921. They then sailed on a honeymoon to Lisbon, where this Marquise of Monaco had great properties. Þuríður Dýrfinna died three years later in Brussels from tuberculosis.
Reykjavík 17/10/2022 : A7R IV, A7R III – FE 1.2/50mm GM, FE 2.8/100mm GM
Photographs & text : Páll Stefánsson
