Lindström was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He studied at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1865–1873. He worked as an architect in Stockholm 1876-1888, in Umeå as a city architect in 1888–1893, in Gävle in 1893–1897, then again in Stockholm. He was hired as city architect in Umeå to lead the rebuilding of the town after the great fire in 1888. There he designed buildings including Umeå Town Hall and Umeå City Church, among others.