What is "esviken"

Esviken (formerly Esvigen) is a villa surrounded by an elaborate garden and a former agricultural property in Asker, Norway. Industrialist Halvor Schou bought Løkenes farm with 1000 daa land in the late 1860s, and commissioned the villa, designed by famous architect Wilhelm von Hanno. Esviken was used as a summer residence by Schou and his heirs. His daughter Birgitte Halvordine Schou (b. 1857) was married to industrialist Einar Westye Egeberg, who inherited the villa and half of the property. Their daughter Hermine Egeberg (1881–1974) was married from 1901 to Count Peder Anker Wedel-Jarlsberg. Wedel-Jarlsberg was Lord Chamberlain for King Haakon VII of Norway from 1931 to 1945 and one of the King's closest confidants for over thirty year, and the King and Queen visited Esviken many times. Esviken is also located in close proximity to Skaugum, owned by the royal family. Their oldest son Herman Wedel-Jarlsberg, the later Count and owner of Jarlsberg, was born at Esviken in 1902. Formally, Hermine and Peder Anker Wedel-Jarlsberg took over the property in 1930, but in reality, this happened around thirty years earlier. The Wedel-Jarlsberg family extended the garden significantly. In 1960, the property was inherited by their daughter Hedevig Wedel-Jarlsberg (1913–96), married Paus, and her husband Per (Christian Cornelius) Paus, who was himself a descendant of the Schou family (Halvor Schou's first cousin) and his wife's distant cousin. In 1996, their children Cornelia Paus, Christopher Paus and Peder Nicolas Paus inherited the property. It was sold to Asker municipality in 1999. The villa and the garden was listed as a protected cultural heritage site by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage in 2006.

Esviken was never used as a full-time residence, only as a summer residence.