A local businessman built the house known today as Buvikveien 26, nicknamed “the Vatican,” as a seaside holiday retreat in 1750, at a time when Risør was already a busy Norwegian shipping town known for building and trading timber. Dentists Oddvar and Barbro Halvorsen began restoring a separate building downtown in the early 1990s out of a shared passion for maritime antiques, opening their first guest suite in 1993 in what national media dubbed Norway’s smallest hotel.
They gradually acquired and restored more of Risør’s historic wooden buildings, including the 1750 Buvika house, folding each into the growing hotel while keeping every suite themed to a different piece of the town’s seafaring past. Risør itself, one of Europe’s best-preserved wooden towns, dates its trading roots to Dutch merchants who arrived in the 16th century. The Bertelsen family took over ownership in 2021 and has since added a restored 1865 customs house to the property.