Skaugum destroyed by fire

May 20, 1930

The "beautiful mansion" of Skaugum, which was a wedding gift last year to Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha of Sweden, was destroyed by fire today.
The young couple, who are expecting their first child later this year, had just returned from sailing on the lake and were hanging pictures in a first floor room, when the Crown Prince smelled smoke. He ran outside and noticed that the "whole roof was ablaze."
The Associated Press reports that the house was constructed entirely of wood, and the only "water available had to be carried in buckets from the lake." Crown Prince Olav quickly organized efforts to save "valuable paintings, tapestris and hundreds of wedding presents" from rooms on the first floor. He was one of the first to run back into the house, and he was "seen running out with a wicker cradle which the Princess had worked with fine silk trimmings for her expected baby."