Fredrik Blom was born in
Karlskrona. His father was a compass maker
journeyman. He began his career as a carpenter, working for the
navy at the
Karlskrona naval base. He was educated by
Johan Törnström and his aesthetic talent seems to have been identified early on, probably by his superior
Jonas Lidströmer. In 1798 he was relieved from his job as a carpenter and probably started studying architecture at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts the same year. He was taught and influenced by
Louis Jean Desprez and
Fredrik Magnus Piper. His first independent work was the rather unassuming (and later heavily altered) town hall of
Sölvesborg, completed in 1805. Already by this time, however, he had produced proposals for purely decorative work, much in the style of Fredrik Magnus Piper. ==Selected works==