Richard Andvord

Who was Richard Andvord?

Sevald Theodor Richard Andvord was a Norwegian businessperson, known for founding the company Rich. Andvord.

He was born in Lom as the son of bailiff Paul Thorsteinson Andvord. He moved to Christiania in 1855 to work as an assistant in his uncle's shop. He also spent one year in Germany. In 1865 he opened his own store near Stortorvet, named Rich. Andvord. He imported pens, paper and other writing materials. Andvord soon got many notable customers, including Henrik Ibsen, Edvard Grieg, Jonas Lie, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Edvard Munch, Fridtjof Nansen and Gustav Vigeland, and the store became a meeting place for artists and other notables. The new postal communication and the expanded bureaucracy meant even more for Andvord's business. He soon expanded into a larger company. Book printing and bookbinding were included in the company portfolio.

Andvord was also a member of Kristiania city council, and of Den norske Creditbank, Kreditkassen, Storebrand, Idun and the National Theatre. Andvord was an active philanthropist, and also led Borgervæpningen, a civic guard consisting of burghers but disestablished in 1881. In 1883 he married Cathinca Sofie Jacobsen, a first cousin of Johan Svendsen. She was a skilled musician, and helped leading a bourgeois social life in the couple's Frogner home.