Hofdi House

The walls of this house have seen many important faces pass by. The building, constructed in 1909, was designed for a French consul, Jean-Paul Brillouin; his presence remains to this day through the gold letters which reproduce his surname in the reception room. After Brillouin, the poet Benediktsson and the doctor Matthías Einarsson also made the Hofdi house their residence. From 1938 until the end of the war, the consul and later the ambassador of Britain resided here. During this time, the prime minister Winston Churchill and the great actress and singer Marlene Dietrich visited Hofdi. In 1967, after a renovation, the location became a venue for city receptions. It is said that the meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev held here in the autumn of 1986 marked the beginning of the end of the Cold War.