This is one of the more bizarre contraptions that we have come across. It’s quite a marvel of engineering.
Below you’re looking at Telefontornet, which was the Swedish name for the old Stockholm telephone tower. This structure dates back to 1887 when construction of a tower to connection up to 5,500 city telephone lines was ordered.
The structure was built to 80 meters in height, and frankly, it was ridiculously ugly. Citizens of Stockholm were none too pleased and eventually the owners asked the architect to “pretty up” the structure with the four angle towers. We found these great photos on Flickr, uploaded by user Tekniska Museet.
The structure was made obsolete rather quickly as telephone companies began burying phone cables and by 1939, it was being used as a large advertising structure for billboards. Ultimately, the structure was destroyed in 1953.
Here’s one last cool old photo of the telephone tower.
