The Dehn Mansion is one of two identical but mirror-imag
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
-style
town mansions on
Bredgade
Bredgade ( lit. "Broad Street") is one of the most prominent streets in Copenhagen, Denmark. Running in a straight line from Kongens Nytorv for just under one kilometre to the intersection of Esplanaden and Grønningen, it is one of the major stre ...
, flanking the entrance to
Amalienborg
Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo
Rococo (, ...
via
Frederiksgade
Frederiksgade is a street in the Frederiksstaden neighbourhood of central Copenhagen. It runs east from Store Kongensgade to Toldbodgade on the waterfront, passing the Marble Church, Bredgade and Amaliegade on the way. At the Marble Church the ...
, in the
Frederiksstaden
Frederiksstaden is a district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed during the reign of Frederick V of Denmark, Frederick V in the second half of the 18th century, it is considered to be one of the most important rococo complexes in Europe and was in ...
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 takes its name after Friedrich Ludwig von Dehn, its first owner. The mansion was later divided into two separate properties. The larger, northn part of the mansion is now owned by the
Danish Association of Pharmaconomists. The southern part (Frederiksgade 17) is owned by
Karberghus
Karberghus is a Danish real estate company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It specializes in the acquisition, restoration and renting out of historic properties in the Copenhagen area and is a member of BYFO, Historiske Huse and Europa Nostra. Karber ...
. The building was listed in the
Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918.
History
Friedrich Ludwig von Dehn
Nicolai Eigtved
Nicolai Eigtved, also known as Niels Eigtved (4 June 1701 – 7 June 1754) was a Danish architect. He introduced and was the leading proponent of the French rococo or late baroque style in Danish architecture during the 1730s–1740s. He designe ...
's masterplan for Copenhagen's new
Frederiksstaden
Frederiksstaden is a district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed during the reign of Frederick V of Denmark, Frederick V in the second half of the 18th century, it is considered to be one of the most important rococo complexes in Europe and was in ...
district was presented in 1749. The four most prestigious lots were those of the four
Amalienborg
Amalienborg () is the official residence for the Danish royal family, and is located in Copenhagen, Denmark. Queen Magrethe ll lives here in winter and autumn. It consists of four identical classical palace façades with rococo
Rococo (, ...
mansions that would surround the central, octagonal plaza of the new district. Then followed the two lots at the corners of the
axially symmetric
In geometry, circular symmetry is a type of continuous symmetry for a Plane (geometry), planar object that can be rotational symmetry, rotated by any arbitrary angle and map onto itself.
Rotational circular symmetry is isomorphic with the circl ...
street
Frederiksgade
Frederiksgade is a street in the Frederiksstaden neighbourhood of central Copenhagen. It runs east from Store Kongensgade to Toldbodgade on the waterfront, passing the Marble Church, Bredgade and Amaliegade on the way. At the Marble Church the ...
that marked the entrance to Amalienborg from
Norgesgade (now Bredgade). In return for 30 years of freedom from property taxes, the two privy councilors Frederik Ludvig von Dehn and
Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff
Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff (german: Johann Hartwig Ernst Graf von Bernstorff; 13 May 1712 – 18 February 1772) was a German-Danish statesman and a member of the Bernstorff noble family of Mecklenburg. He was the son of Joachim ...
committed themselves to building the two identical town mansions that were called for in Eigtved's masterplan.
Dehn and Bernstorff commissioned the architect
Johann Gottfried Rosenberg to design and construct the two buildings. Dehn had possibly already used Rosenborg for the design of Gut Ludwigsburg in Schleswig. The plans were approved by Eigtved in 1753 and the Dehn Mansion was completed in 1755.
The property was listed as No. 71 NN in St. Ann's East Quarter. It is marked as No. 326 on
Christian Gedde's map of St. Ann's East Quarter.
Reventlow family, 17661794
Dehn was appointed to
stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
in
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...
in 1762 and therefore ended up selling his town mansion in Copenhagen to
Ditlev Reventlow
Ditlev is a given name. Notable people with the name include:
*Emilius Ditlev Bærentzen (1799–1868), Danish portrait painter and lithographer
*Hans Ditlev Bendixsen (1842–1902), American shipbuilder on the West Coast of the United States
* D ...
in 1766. Reventlow passed it on to his son Fritz Reventlow in 1779.
Changing owners, 17941871
In 1794, Reventlow sold the Dehn Mansion to
. He fell out of favour at the Danish court after the
English Wars. The mansion was in 1810 purchased for speculative reasons by a consortium consisting of
Frederik Julius Kaas,
William Duntzfelt
William Duntzfelt (8 September 1762 - 20 October 1809) was a Danish merchant and ship-owner.
Early life
Duntzfelt was born on 1762 in Negapatnam, then the capital of the Dutch Coromandel, to Johann Friedrich Düntzfeld (1725–1785), an engineer ...
and
Niels Rosenkrantz
Niels Rosenkrantz (9 September 1757 in Øyestad, Norway - 6 January 1824 in Copenhagen) was a Danish-Norwegian statesman, diplomat and prime minister. He was the son of Otto Christian Rosenkrantz and Karen Johanne Rønning.
After a short time ...
. They divided it into two separate properties bit sold them both to
Carl Ludwig von Baudissin in 1811. He died in 1913.
Christopher MacEvoy Jr., a merchant and planter from St. Croix in the
Danish West Indies
The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...
, purchased the mansion in 1819. He had recently also purchased the
Bernstorff Palace
Bernstorff Palace ( da, Bernstorff Slot) in Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark, was built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff. It remained in the possession of the Bernstorff family until 181 ...
in
Charlottenlund
Charlottenlund is a suburban area on the coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the administrative seat of Gentofte Municipality. Bordered to the east by the Øresund, to the South by Hellerup and to the north by Klampenborg, it is one of the w ...
north of the city.
The Dehn Mansion changed hands several times after MacEvoy's death in 1838. In 1842, it was acquired by
Carl Frederik Blixen Finecke. His brother-in-law,
Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel
Frederick William George Adolphus, Landgrave of Hesse (german: Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Adolf von Hessen-Kassel; 25 November 1820 – 14 October 1884) was the only son of Wilhelm I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim and Princess Louise Charlotte ...
, heir to the Danish throne until 1852, purchased the mansion in 1844. He rented the smaller, southern part of the building out, for instance to the writer
Johan Ludvig Heiberg and his wife
Johanne Luise Heiberg
Johanne Luise Heiberg (; née Pätges; 22 November 1812 – 21 December 1890) was a Danish actress of the 19th century. She is most famous for her work at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, where she achieved great success. Though she was clo ...
.
Knuth and Hornung & Møllerm 18711931
![Hornung & Møller reklame ca 1883](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Hornung_%26_M%C3%B8ller_reklame_ca_1883.jpg)
In 1871 the northern and southern part of the mansion were for the first time sold to different buyers. The southern part was acquired by the Knuth family for Christopher Knuth. He owned it until his death in 1942, using it as his winter home while spending the summers on the
Lilliendal estate at
Vordingborg
Vordingborg () is an old ferry town in Vordingborg Municipality in Denmark with around 18,000 inhabitants. Because of three large estates surrounding the town, a coherent urban development has not been possible, which is the reason why three sat ...
. The larger northern part of the mansion was acquired by piano manufacturer Frederik Møller. In 1900, it was ceded to
Hornung & Møller
Hornung & Møller was a Danish piano factory that operated from 1827 to 1972.
History
Hornung & Møller dominated the piano industry in the mid-1800s and introduced the cast iron frame. The company was founded by Conrad Christian Hornung (b Skæl ...
.
![Den russiske Legation flytter](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Den_russiske_Legation_flytter.png)
The Russian diplomatic delegation in Copenhagen was also a tenant in the building but closed down in 1919.
Later history
The insurance company Nord & Syd acquired both parts of the mansion in 1942. Det Dansk-Franske Dampskibsselskab, a shipping company, acquired the building in 1956.
In 1976, the mansion was taken over by the state and put through a major renovation. The northern part was sold to
Danish Association of Pharmaconomists in 1980.
two parts of the mansion were once again sold to different buyers. The northern part was taken over by the government and used for housing the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. The southern part has for instance housed the
Danish Copyright Bureau.
Architecture
The Dehn Mansion is designed in the Late Baroque/Rococo style. The main facades towards Bredgade consist of three three-storey pavilions with
Mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
s connected by lower, two-storey sections.
The piano nobile has tall, arched windows tpååed bnu sandstone decorations. The facade has ear-lesenes (i.e. small square and the central pavilions also have pilasters with highly decorated capitals and grooves at the ground floor level. The cornices are decorated with Vases and cartouches on the roofs.
References
External links
{{Commons category, Dehns Palæ
Source
Frederiksstaden
Houses in Copenhagen
Listed residential buildings in Copenhagen
Rococo architecture in Copenhagen