Inside the exhibition "Hábær House 1950"

Árbær Open Air Museum

A young couple with their two grown children and an infant live in the house. The husband is unemployed and his wife is therefore the main provider of the household. Alongside her duties as a homemaker, she takes on various kinds of side jobs.

It should be noted that this is not a real family.

[Hábær](https://borgarsogusafn.is/en/25-habaer-house) is a half-stone house that was built near the intersection of Grettisgata and Klapparstígur in 1887. Such houses were mainly built and inhabited by labourers.

Hábær came into the possession of the social welfare authorities in Reykjavík, or the relief committee, around 1937. After the Second World War the house had become very run-down and was slated for demolition, but due to the great housing shortage in Reykjavík it continued to be inhabited until 1966. During the last decades, people under the care of the relief committee lived in Hábær. Despite growing prosperity in Reykjavík during the 1950s and 60s, many lived in poor conditions and had to seek assistance from the committee.

Hábær House 1950

The exhibition Hábær 1950 seeks to shed light on the living conditions of a poor family around the year 1950