Paul Toll

Paul Sequens Esaias Toll (September 7, 1882 in Småland – July 3, 1946) was a Swedish construction engineer and co-founder, together with Ivar Kreuger, of the construction company Kreuger & Toll.

Paul Toll was born in the parish of Berga in Kronoberg County, Småland. The name Toll springs from the small village Tollstad, south of Alvestra in the province of Östergötland, Sweden. In 1913, he married Gunhild Engwall, with whom he raised six children.

Together with Ivar Kreuger, Paul Toll formed the engineering and construction company Kreuger & Toll in 1908. Toll played the main role in the construction projects while Ivar Kreuger handled the business contacts and marketing of the company. When he met Ivar Kreuger in early 1908, Ivar offered him to be his joint owner in a newly established company. Paul wrote a letter to his father Karl Toll in Mars 23, 1908 to give him some information about Ivar and probably was asking his father for an advice what to do, as Paul Toll was working for another company at that time: (translated to English), "After a 7-year period working as a trainee in America, engineer Kreuger, that is his name, has worked with a lot projects with concrete steel in different places around the world. He has now made me an offer to become his joint owner." This was the starting point for one of the world's most famous companies but not in the construction business but as a holding company with the name Kreuger & Toll AB that did not include the construction business.

After some years Ivar Kreuger became more focused in founding large corporations. To start with in the match-industry to save the Kreuger family match factories around Kalmar that was facing financial problems in 1912 and later in other industries. In 1917 Ivar founded the company Kreuger & Toll Construction AB, run and owned (60%) by Paul Toll. Ivar owned a small part of that company, how much is not known. Kreuger & Toll AB then became a holding company, run by Ivar Kreuger. Paul and Ivar, however kept a close contact over the years as Ivar insisted on keeping Paul as member of the board for Kreuger & Toll AB, handling the Kreugers construction business within the subsidiary real estate company Hufvudstaden AB. The construction business grow rapidly within and outside Sweden.

The construction company mainly worked in Scandinavia but also had a small company in Russia, registered in 1911, with Ludvig Nobel [The Nobel family had large industrial activities in Russia.] as a member of the board and the office in Sankt Petersburg. Ivar Kreuger was behind the economic work to set up the company and Paul handled the construction work. An industry building for ASEA was set up in the city of Jaroslav north east of Moscow and a number of other buildings. However the Russian business came to a sudden stop in 1916 due to internal company problems just before the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917 when all subsidiaries with the main company outside Russia was forbidden to have any activities in Russia and all forein property was confiscated.

In 1932 when the Kreuger Crash came, most parts of the holding company went bankrupt but Kreuger & Toll Construction AB survived, but suffered from the bad reputation that the name 'Kreuger' had got. Paul then changed the company name to just Toll Construction AB and continued to work with new projects. The construction company's mots famous projects, going back to early 1910, was the warehouse NK (1913-14), the Stockholm Olympic Stadium (1911-12) and the hospital Södersjukhuset (1944) in Stockhom. Henrik Kreüger, Ivars Kreugers cousin, was working as a consultant and chief engineer for the company from the start in 1908 and played a major role in the construction business succéss.

Paul was a member of the board for the Kreuger & Toll holding company all along until the Kreuger Crash in 1932 but did not participate much in these discussions, as he was occupied with the construction business. Paul was the family man that was satisfied with his family life and construction business while Ivar was heading for "higher" goals. To what extend Ivar was involved in the construction business beyond 1917, when the Swedish Match had been founded and the Russian subsidiary company was closed down, is not clear but he certainly had business contacts that the Kreuger & Toll Construction AB could benefit from and Ivar and Paul often met in there free time.

Paul Toll built up a large company group of his own during the year 1917 until 1932 by aquiring other construction related companies and developing the business. By 1930 he had control over a large company group including Sand & Grus AB (including Jehander), Svenska Murbruks AB, Kasper Höglund AB, Kanal & Invallningsbolaget, Haga tegelbruk, Ölands Cement AB, the real eastates Karlavägen 57 (Stockholm), Kommendörsgatan 16 (Stockholm), the farmland estates Husby at Munsö, Äleby at Selaön and Fållnäs in Sorunda (Stockholm). The family had there private residence at Villagatan 10 (Stockholm) and a summerhouse they called "Hagen", bought in 1917, at the north eastern part of the island of Lidingö outside Stockholm.

Sources

*Toll, Magnus: "Paul Toll 1882-1946, ingeniör-entreprenör". 1996. Swedish language. ISBN-no does not exists. Private book, out on the secondhand market in Sweden.

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