Dense blocks of Neo Renaissance apartment houses climb to a domed library, and Odenplan Square is where The Man on the Roof shot down a police helicopter.
What Vasastan looks like
and the streets that cross it run in long straight blocks north of , and the five and six storey buildings along them form one continuous plastered wall from corner to corner. Odengatan is close by, about thirty metres wide with a planted median and traffic in both directions. The narrower side streets hold to about eighteen metres, lined with fronts that carry columns and pilasters in pale stone colored render.
West of , Birkastaden's blocks carry oriel windows, corner towers and rounded pediments instead of the plainer fronts closer to Odenplan. Röda Bergen's blocks step down their hillside in two and three storeys, each building opening onto a shared yard rather than a closed courtyard. Near the Sankt Eriksbron bridge, the Atlas blocks climb the same slope in flights of exterior stairs, five and six storeys on the inside of the hill and nine storeys where the same building meets the street below.
slopes up from Odenplan to , a rust colored building topped with a tall cylindrical rotunda under a shallow dome. The rotunda is lit by a ring of high windows above open shelving that circles the room. 's hospital grounds sit behind their own stand of trees just south of the park.
runs south from the park between the same plastered blocks, its buildings backed by narrow courtyards typical of the district. Upplandsgatan crosses it a few blocks north, at a five storey corner building topped with a domed tower over its ground floor shopfronts.
Shot in Vasastan
For The Man on the Roof, a sniper's position was placed on the roof of a residential building at Dalagatan 32 to 34, opposite the Eastman Institute. The scene where he shoots down a police helicopter was staged a few streets away, at Odenplan Square.
The Man on the Roof, 1976
Odenplan Square
The sniper shoots down a police helicopter over this square in the film's most quoted sequence, filmed on the square's own paving rather than a copy built elsewhere. The commuter rail entrance and paved plaza seen today were rebuilt since 1976, but the junction is the same one the production used.
Prenzlauer Berg's five and six storey Gründerzeit apartment blocks share the same street width and plastered stucco facades as Vasastan's own grid. Cornices, pilasters and rows of tall windows repeat down the block in both places. Berlin's courtyards run deeper and are fully enclosed, so a shot that swings into one gives away the difference. Try searching Gründerzeit apartment blocks now.
Josefstadt's streets carry the same Neo Renaissance plaster fronts as Vasastan's own grid, with pilasters and cornice lines repeating block to block. Building heights hold at five storeys along most streets, close to Vasastan's own limit. Vienna's stone detailing runs heavier around the doorways and window heads, so tight shots on the entrances show more ornate stonework than Stockholm's plainer versions. Try searching Neo Renaissance plaster fronts now.
Maida Vale's red brick mansion blocks run to five and six storeys on wide straight streets, close to Vasastan's own scale and period. Bay windows and stone banding break up the fronts in both places. The red brick and white stone trim are a different palette from Vasastan's plastered fronts, so a wider shot needs careful color grading to hold the illusion. Try searching red brick mansion blocks now.
