Amerika Plads ( lit. "America Square") is a public square and surrounding neighbourhood in the

Østerbro Østerbro () (literally, "Eastern Bridge") is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located just north of the city centre, outside the old city gate Østerport which, after it was moved around 1700, used to be located clo ...

district of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. It is the result of a redevelopment of an area in the southern part of the former

Freeport of Copenhagen The Free Port of Copenhagen is a bonded area in the northern part of Port of Copenhagen of Copenhagen, Denmark. Created to consolidate Copenhagen's position as an important maritime hub in Northern Europe, it was established in the area just nort ...

into a mixed-use neighbourhood which consists of dwellings, offices and retail establishments, combining converted historic buildings and modern architecture. The former Free Port Station building was put in storage during the redevelopment and is now located in the middle of the square where it serves as a café. The area is to the west bounded by Kalkbrænderihavnsgade, part of a major thoroughfare, and to the east by Dampfærgevej connected to Kalkbrænderihavnsgade in both ends and separating Amerika Plads from America Quay, the western quay of the Southern Free Port dock. The name of the area, like that of the quay, is a reference to the large passenger ships which used to transport Danish emigrants to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

during the first half of the 20th century.

History

Dating from circa 1903, the name Dampfærgevej (English: Steam Ferry Road) refers to the steam ferries to

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

which used to berth on the north side of the area. The Copenhagen-Malmö link was founded as a joined venture between the Swedish and Danish state railways in 1895 in connection with the opening of the new free port in Copenhagen. The Amerika Plads neighbourhood is located in the former steam ferry terrain. The route was discontinued in 1974. In 1986, the premises were taken over by DanLink which operated a cargo line on the route Copenhagen-

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and ninth-largest in Sweden, with a population of 113,816 (2020). Helsingborg is the cent ...

until 30 June 2000 when it closed due to the opening of the

Øresund Bridge The Öresund or Øresund Bridge ( da, Øresundsbroen ; sv, Öresundsbron ; hybrid name: ) is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the longest in Europe with both roadway and rai ...

Redevelopment

Due to the area's attractive location on the border between Østerbro and the

City Centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

and near some of the most expensive addresses in Copenhagen, it was decided to redevelop the area in the late 1990s. It happened as a joint venture between

Port of Copenhagen The Port of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Havn) is the largest Denmark, Danish seaport and one of the largest ports in the Baltic Sea basin. It extends from Svanemølle Beach in the north to Hvidovre in the south. Along with Malmö harbour, Copenh ...

(now

CPH City & Port Development By & Havn (English: ''City & Port'') or ''Udviklingsselskabet By & Havn I/S'' (en.: ''The corporation for development of City and Port I/S'') is an organisation, tasked with the development of Ørestad and the port of Copenhagen and the daily ope ...

) and private development companies TK Development and Sjælsø Gruppen. In 2000, Port of Copenhagen commissioned Dutch architects

West 8 West 8 is an urban planning and landscape architecture firm founded by Adriaan Geuze and Paul van Beek in Rotterdam, Netherlands in 1987. It is known for its contemporary designs and innovative solutions to urban planning problems using lighting, ...

to draw up a masterplan for the transformation of the area. The aim of the plan is to create a dense and active urban environment with multiple functions and diverse architecture. As part of the masterplan, the new buildings all have interior courtyards that are accessible to the public, unlike those in the older parts of the city, so as to expand the street areas and create life and movement between the buildings. The neighbourhood comprises about 50,000 em2 of renovated buildings and 95,000 em2 of new buildings distributed on 53,000 em2 of offices and buildings and about 42,000 em2 of dwellings.

The square

The square is dominated by the former Free Port Railway Station which was dismantled in 2002 and rebuilt in 2005 to serve as a café pavilion near its original location. The half-timbered

National Romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

building from 1895 was designed by

Heinrich Wenck Heinrich (Henry) Emil Charles Wenck (10 March 1851 – 3 February 1936) was a Danish architect, known for the numerous railway stations he designed in his capacity of chief architect for the Danish State Railways from 1894 to 1921. During the yea ...

, who also designed

Copenhagen Central Station Copenhagen Central Station ( da, Københavns Hovedbanegård , abbreviated ''København H'') is the main railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the largest railway station in Denmark. With more than 100,000 travellers every day, it is the se ...

and numerous other railway stations around the country, and served as a hub for the Copenhagen-Malmö ferries.

Buildings and residents

Among the older buildings in the area is the former headquarters of

Nordisk Fjer Nordisk Fjer, formerly named Nordisk Fjerfabrik A/S (Nordic Feather Factory), was a Danish feather processing company established in 1901 and existing until 1991. It was founded in Svendborg by Hans Ove Lange, but moved to Copenhagen during its r ...

which was built in 1901. It now serves as headquarters for

Banedanmark Banedanmark (; previously Banestyrelsen) is a Denmark, Danish company that is responsible for the maintenance and traffic control on all of the state owned Rail transport in Denmark, Danish railway network. History In 1997, Banedanmark came into ...

. The Twin Warehouses, also known as Warehouse D and E, were built in the 1920s. Other historic buildings are found along Dampfærgevej. The most prominent modern buildings in the area are the Copper Tower on the north side of the area, next to the Ferry Terminal, and Fyrtårnet (en. The Lighthouse) on its south side. The Copper Tower is a 16-storey, copper-clad office building which was designed by

Arkitema Arkitema Architects is a Danish architectural firm headquartered in Aarhus, with branch offices in Copenhagen, Malmö, Stockholm and Oslo. Arkitema Architects was founded in 1969 in Aarhus, and nowadays has about 400 employees with its main activi ...

and built in 2004. It houses the law firm Plesner as well as an Italian supermarket in its ground floor. The Lighthouse is a residential tower block designed by

Lundgaard & Tranberg Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter is a Danish architectural firm, based in Copenhagen Denmark. It is most noted for the Tietgenkollegiet student housing in Ørestad from 2006 and the Royal Danish Playhouse on the Copenhagen harbourfront from 2008 ...

and was completed in 2007. Other modern buildings in the area have been designed by

C. F. Møller Architects Arkitektfirmaet C. F. Møller, internationally also known as C. F. Møller Architects, is an architectural firm based in Århus, Denmark. Founded in 1924 by C. F. Møller, it is today the largest architectural firm in Denmark based on number of em ...

and

Hvidt & Mølgaard Hvidt & Mølgaard was a Copenhagen-based, Danish design and architectural firm which existed from 1944 until 2009. Founded by Peter Hvidt and Orla Mølgaard-Nielsen, it continued to thrive after the founders' retirement but was split in two in 20 ...

Transport

Amerika Plads is located between Østerport station and

Nordhavn station Nordhavn station is a commuter rail and rapid transit railway station in Copenhagen, Denmark. The station serves the eastern part of the district of Østerbro, as well as the harbour area of Nordhavn. The station is by the lines A, H, B, C, ...

on the

S-train The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

main railway line through Copenhagen.

References

External links

Amerika Plads

Amerika Plads
on Copenhagen X {{coord, 55.6997, 12.5941, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Squares in Copenhagen Redevelopment projects in Copenhagen Relocated buildings and structures in Denmark