Frederiksholms Kanal 16–18

Frederiksholms Kanal 16–18

Frederiksholms Kanal 16 seen from the other side of the canal
General information
Location Copenhagen, Denmark
Country

Denmark

55°40′28.12″N 12°34′35.99″E / 55.6744778°N 12.5766639°E / 55.6744778; 12.5766639Coordinates: 55°40′28.12″N 12°34′35.99″E / 55.6744778°N 12.5766639°E / 55.6744778; 12.5766639
Completed 1852
Design and construction
Architect H. C. Stilling

Frederiksholms Kanal 16–18 are two almost identical listed properties overlooking Frederiksholm Canal in central Copenhagen, Denmark. The Victorian Home, a 15-room, late 19th-century bourgeois home now operated as a historic house museum by the National Museum of Denmark, is located on the second floor of No. 18. The Attorney general (Rigsadvokaten) is based at No. 16. Both buildings were listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 6 April 1969.

History

The two properties in c. 1899

The Plessen family constructed a town mansion at the site in the 18th century. The Plassen Mansion (Danish: Det Plessenske Palæ) was a two-storey Baroque style building. In the middle of the 19th century it had fallen into despair and was acquired by Alphonse Cassabadan who had recently retired from his position as head chef for king Christian VIII. Cassabadan commissioned the architect the architect Harald Conrad Stilling to redevelop the site into two separate apartment buildings in 1851-1852. Stilling added two extra floors. Cassabadan also established a tavern in the basement of No. 18.[1]

The theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig and ballet master August Bournonville both lived in the building from 1852 to 1855. Count H. A. Reventlow-Criminil (1798-1869) was also a resident in No. 16 in 1853.[1]

George Quaade, who had been appointed to Minister of Education on 1 July 1864, lived at No. 18 in 1865. The publisher and Venstre politician Christen Berg (1829-1891), lived in the ground floor of No. 18 in 1885-1886. The writer and educator Johan Krohn (1841-1925) from 1875 to 1879.[2]


Rudolph Christensen and his family at the dinner table, c. 1905

Nr. 18 was acquired by the grocer Rudolph Christensen (1849-1925) in 1886 . He was the joint owner of the ribbon factory Christensen og Hansen. The company had a shop on Østergade. Christensen undertook a major renovation of the building. The Christensen family's own home, a 15-room apartment, was located on the second floor. The two daughters Gerda and Ellen Christensen lived in the apartment until 1963 and left it with all its furnishings to the National Museum of Denmark.

The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 6 April 1969.[3]

Architecture

A section of Thorvaldsen's Alexander frieze from the gateway in No. 17
Frederiksholms Kanal 16

Rach building consists of four storeys over a high celler and a Mansard roof. They are six bays wide. Both buildings have a balcony at each of the outer bays on the first floor and No. 16 has an additional balcony in front of the two central bays on the top floor.

The interior of the two gateways is decorated with a copy of Bertel Thorvaldsen's Alexander frieze. The 35 metre long and 1 metre tall relief frirze was originally commissioned for the popal Palazzo del Quirinale in 1912 in connection with Napoleon's planned visit to the city. It was completed in just three months.[4]

The walls of the staircase at No. 18 aare richly decorated with murals created for Rudolph Christensen in the 1890s by C.W. Juulmann & Søn in Nørregade. The decorations include imitated marble panels and sandstone pilasters and painted ornaments. The landings feature murals of landscapes and houses. One of them is of the Christensens family's first country house at Jægersborg Allé.

Today

The Attorney general (Rigsadvokaten) is based at No. 16. The Christensen family's 15-room apartment, now known as the Victorian Home (Daish: Klunkehjemmet), can only be visited on guided tours. Guided tours in English are available on Saturdays at 14:00 from June through September.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Frederiksholms Kanal 16-16a-b". indenforvoldene.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "FreFrederiksholms Kanal 18-18a-b". indenforvoldene.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 28 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Sag: Frederiksholms Kanal 17" (in Danish). Kulturstyrelsen. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  4. ↑ "Magtens pris - Napoleon, Alexander den Store og Thorvaldsen" (in Danish). Thorvladsens Museum. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
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