Frieboeshvile () is a

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

-style

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

Kongens Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

north 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 located across the street from

Sorgenfri Palace Sorgenfri Palace ( da, Sorgenfri Slot; lit. "Sorrow free", a direct calque of Sans Souci) is a royal residence of the Danish monarch, located in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, on the east side of Lyngby Kongevej, in the northern suburbs of Copenhag ...

, where Lyngby Main Street meets

Lyngby Kongevej Secondary route 201 (Danish: Sekundærrute 201) is a numbered road in North Zealand to the north of Copenhagen, Denmark, consisting of Lyngby Omfartsvej, a motorway bypass avoiding Lyngby Hovedgade (Lyngby Main Street), and Kongevejen which links ...

. The house takes its name after Frederik Casper Conrad Frieboe who is buried in the grounds together with his wife and a few other family members. Its most notable former resident is

Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz (; 29 September 1904, Bremen – 16 February 1973) was a German diplomat. During World War II, he served as an attaché for Nazi Germany in occupied Denmark. He tipped off the Danes about the Germans' intended deportatio ...

who played an important part in the Rescue of the Danish Jews during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The house now serves as a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

showing how Copenhagen peers decorated their country homes in the late 18th century. It hosts a permanent and special exhibitions about

local history Local history is the study of history in a geographically local context, often concentrating on a relatively small local community. It incorporates cultural and social aspects of history. Local history is not merely national history writ small bu ...

as well as the local historic archives for Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality.

History

The house was built from 1756 to 1758 owned by August Günther, a chemist from Copenhagen, and was originally known as ''Vildnisset'' (en. The Wilderness). The architect is not known. In 1782 the property was acquired by the wealthy shipping agent

Andreas Bodenhoff Andreas Bodenhoff (5 January 1723 – 8 August 1794) was a Danish merchant, shipowner and ship builder. He has left his name in posterity for reclaiming the area now known as Bodenhoffs Plads on Christianshavn in Copenhagen. He was the largest p ...

. His daughter Gjertrud Cathrine inherited it in 1794 and after she married rittmeister and later General Frederik Caspar Conrad Frieboe, it was passed on to him. Frieboe had no legitimate children. His testament gave the house its current name and converted the estate into Denmark's smallest

fideicommissum A ''fideicommissum'' is a type of bequest in which the beneficiary is encumbered to convey parts of the decedent's estate to someone else. For example, if a father leaves the family house to his firstborn, on condition that they will bequeath it to ...

. The next resident was his sister's son, Lieutenant Colonel F. C. C. Funch. In 1919 the house came into ordinary ownership when the ''Lensafløsningsloven'' Act dissolved all Fideicommia. On the same occasion, the house was listed in 1919. The last member of the Funch family to live in the house was Agnete Bruhn, F.C.C. Funch's daughter. Her husband was Georg Bruhn who worked for Bank of Denmark. Frieboeshvile 1947

Frieboueshvile's stables, on the side wing, was converted in 1923 into a separate residence and rented out. In 1941, during the German

Occupation of Denmark At the outset of World War II in September 1939, Denmark declared itself neutral. For most of the war, the country was a protectorate and then an occupied territory of Germany. The decision to occupy Denmark was taken in Berlin on 17 December ...

, it was rented out to

. On 18 August 1943, Frieboeshvile played host to a meeting between

Werner Best Karl Rudolf Werner Best (10 July 1903 – 23 June 1989) was a German jurist, police chief, SS-'' Obergruppenführer'', Nazi Party leader, and theoretician from Darmstadt. He was the first chief of Department 1 of the Gestapo, Nazi Germany's secre ...

and the Danish politicians

Hans Hedtoft Hans Hedtoft Hansen (21 April 1903 – 29 January 1955) was a Danish politician of the Social Democrats who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1947 to 1950 and again from 1953 until his death in 1955. He also served as the first President ...

, H. C. Hansen and

Alsing Andersen Alsing Emanuel Andersen (5 February 1893 – 5 December 1962) was a Danish social democrat politician. Andersen served as the Minister of Defense (1935–1940) for Denmark. From 8 July 1940 to 1945, he served as the vice chairman of the Danish ...

. Duckwitz served as

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

's Ambassador to Denmark after the war. Following her husband's death, Agnete Bruhn sold the property to Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in 1953 but continued to live there until 1968.

Architecture

Built in the

style, Frieboeshvile is constructed in brick with white dressing and details in sandstone. It consists of a single storey topped by a black-glazed

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 ...

. The roof is not part of the original building but was added in 1977 when the house was restored. The original roof was clad in wooden

roof shingle Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joints below. ...

s which in 1867 were replaced with

slate shingle Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock ...

s. The renovation also restored the Neoclassical interiors which date from Friboe's period of ownership. August Günther's initials are found above the main entrance as well as on the first floor.

Park

Apart from the burial site of General Frieboe and his family, the park also contains a few other features from his day. These include a grotto which originally afforded access to a now collapsed fruit cellar and an aviary converted into a pavilion.

Exhibitions

Frieboeshvile today serves as a

showing how the Copenhagen

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...

of the late 18th century decorated their

s where they would reside throughout the summer. The furniture in the house dates from about 1800. The house also contains a permanent exhibition from the Lyngby-Taarbæk and plays host to two special exhibitions a year on local historic subjects.

Local historic archive

The local historic archive for Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality is also based at the house. In the reading room it is possible to study old photographs, maps and historic documents from the area.

References

External links

{{Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Baroque architecture in Copenhagen Historic house museums in Copenhagen Houses completed in 1758 Houses in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Listed houses in Copenhagen Listed buildings and structures in Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality Listed residential buildings in Copenhagen Local museums in Metropolitan Copenhagen Museums in the Capital Region of Denmark 1750s architecture in Denmark