Point 4 – Machinist houses

The municipal service company Stavanger Elektrisitetsverk took charge over Flørli from 1927. Immediately, they had to do many upgrades on the station, the pipeline and the dams. A/S Flørli had done everything as cheaply and fast as possible and the facilities were already in a state of disrepair a mere ten years after their construction. Secondly, as demands for electricity ever increased and Flørli was the biggest regional provider, the municipality decided to extend the station by leading several lakes and waterways over to Flørli, almost doubling its output.

The extension of the power station was done from 1938 and through the second world war. Use of concrete and steel were restricted and it was hard to get hold of good workers. Thus, they constructed dams with quarried stones – works that took until 1949 to be finished. The station also got a makeover, with an additional pipeline down the mountain side, two new generators installed and the building getting its nowaday looks with the two small towers.

The four similar houses you see here were constructed in 1947-1948. More workers were needed to man the station, day and night. These were machinists, people with an understanding of mechanics rather than electricity. Many of them had worked at sea and settled here with their families. That’s why we say that from 1948, Flørli enters it’s glory period!