Norway's oldest industrial building -
Glads Mølle papermill - is located in Sagene. The cradle of industrialism in Norway stood here in the mid-19th century with establishments such as
Graahs Spinneri and
Hjula Væveri. Author
Oskar Braaten (1881–1939) grew up and got inspiration for his books in this environment. Today the old factories are filled by modern industries, in large parts with media, information technology (IT) and graphical businesses. Small wooden houses along the streets Maridalsveien and Sandakerveien are memories of the incoming dwellings of the 18th century, while the laborers' housing of the 19th century was built in concrete.
Sagene Church (
Sagene Kirke) was designed by architect
Christian Furst. It was opened in 1891 and is monumental for the area. The church was built in Neo-Gothic style revival style and it was consecrated in 1891. The altarpiece is a copy of the one in the cathedral in
Antwerp. The altarpiece was executed by the painter Christen Brun (1828-1905) and shows the removal of Jesus from the cross. After the
World War I the area around
Torshov (now part of the borough of Sagene) and Sagene was planned to be a "city within the city" with some 2,000 apartments. This can still be experienced in Torshov today. The esteemed Soria Moria building from 1928 houses theatre, cinemas, restaurants and other cultural events and offerings. In 2003 Sagene was one of the four boroughs in Oslo with direct elections to the boroughs council, the rest being appointed by the city council. During the period 2003-2007 the leader of the borough council was Tone Tellevik Dahl from the Labour party, with her deputy being Jan Fredrik Pedersen from the Socialist Left Party. The borough council consisted of 5 representatives for the Socialist Left, 4 for Labour, 2 each for Conservatives and Progress and 1 each for the Red Electoral Alliance and the Liberals. In the 2007 borough election Labour became the largest party, with 5 representatives, the Socialist Left and the Conservatives both getting 3 seats, the Liberals 2 and Progress and the Red Electoral Alliance 1 each. ==Parks==