Somastadir Historic House (Sómastaðir)
Somastadir Historic House (Sómastaðir)
Near the huge aluminum plant at Reydarfjordur, you'll find the little stone house at Soomastadir.
This bijou house was built of local stone in 1875, using glacial clay for mortar.
It should be noted that most of Iceland's stone is not very suitable as a building material as it's subject to frost shattering. Consequently, there are rather few stone dwellings in Iceland, though the stone is often used in conjunction with turf.
Hans Jakob Beck (1838–1920), a farmer and fishing-vessel owner and administrator of the district, had the house built to the south of the existing traditional turf farmhouse.
He may have been inspired by houses of a similar type he had seen on his travels in Scotland.