The Levin House (

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

: Levins Gård or Levins Hus) is a

Historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

property located on

Gammelholm Gammelholm ( lit. "Old Islet") is a predominantly residential neighbourhood in the city centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is bounded by the Nyhavn canal, Kongens Nytorv, Holmens Kanal, Niels Juels Gade and the waterfront along Havnegade. For cen ...

Havnegade Havnegade is a waterfront promenade in central Copenhagen, Denmark, which runs between Knippelsbro and the mouth of the Nyhavn canal. Most of the street is lined with buildings from the 1860s and 1870s that were constructed as part of the redevelo ...

waterfront in central

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 ...

. Designed by

Johan Daniel Herholdt Johan Daniel Herholdt (13 August 1818 – 11 April 1902) was a Danish architect, professor and royal building inspector. He worked in the Historicist style and had a significant influence on Danish architecture during the second half of the 19th an ...

and completed in 1866, it is one of the first buildings that was completed after the former Naval dockyard came under redevelopment in the 1860s. The building is today owned by the Karberghus company and occupied by a law firm. It was

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

in 1978.

History

In 1859 the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

decommissioned their last operations at

, and the area was designated for residential redevelopment. The City's initial plan was to reserve it for large villas in an attempt to keep wealthy tax-payers within the municipal borders since they were increasingly settling in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

or in the northern suburbs. The grocer and bankier Martin Levin bought a lot on the waterfront and charged the architect

with designing a house which was built in 1865–66. Due to the difficult economic times that followed from Denmark's involvement in the

Second Schleswig War The Second Schleswig War ( da, Krigen i 1864; german: Deutsch-Dänischer Krieg) also sometimes known as the Dano-Prussian War or Prusso-Danish War was the second military conflict over the Schleswig-Holstein Question of the nineteenth century. T ...

, it was the only detached single-family house-with-garden that was built in the area. Gammelholm was instead built over with apartment buildings according to a master plan created by

Ferdinand Meldahl Ferdinand Meldahl (16 March 1827 – 3 February 1908) was a Danish architect best known for the reconstruction of Frederiksborg Castle after the fire in 1859. Meldahl was one of the leading proponents of historicism in Denmark. Biography He was ...

. An expansion of the house incorporated it into the block structure of the new plan. The Levin House was purchased by the grocer and

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

Lars Emil Bruun Lars Emil Bruun (29 March 1852 – 21 November 1923) was a Danish merchant and numismatist. He established a company in 1883 that specialized in the packing and wholesaling of butter. His collection of coins and medals is kept at the National ...

in 1900. In 1922, it was acquired by

Danish Distillers Danish Distillers ( da, Det Danske Spiritus Kompagni known as ) is a company that was headquartered in Aalborg, Denmark. Isidor Henius, the father of Max Henius, was one of the founders of a company that was acquired by Danish Distillers, which e ...

. The company was headquartered in the building until 1968. It was then owned by the Workers' Cooperative Housing Association (Arbejdernes Andels Boligforening, AAB) until 2011 when it was acquired by the private property investment company Karberghus.

Architecture

The Levin House is designed in the

style with influence from

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

and consists of two stories 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 ...

over a high cellar. The original villa consisted of four bays facing Havnegade and two bays facing Tordenskjoldsgade. The extension which integrated it into the block structure added three bays facing the water and two bays on Tordenskjoldsgade, where a gate separates the property from the neighboring, five-story apartment building. The diagonally cut-off corner features a canted

bay window A bay window is a window space projecting outward from the main walls of a building and forming a bay in a room. Types Bay window is a generic term for all protruding window constructions, regardless of whether they are curved or angular, or r ...

topped by a balcony and with

Corinthian Corinthian or Corinthians may refer to: *Several Pauline epistles, books of the New Testament of the Bible: **First Epistle to the Corinthians **Second Epistle to the Corinthians **Third Epistle to the Corinthians (Orthodox) *A demonym relating to ...

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s flanking the windows on the second floor. There are rustication on the high cellar and at the corners. The interior of the building originally featured decorative paintings on walls and ceilings by

Georg Hilker Georg Hilker (5 June 1807 – 13 January 1875) was a Danish decorative painter active during the Danish Golden Age in the first half of the 19th century. He collaborated with painter Constantin Hansen (1804–1880). Early life and career Hilk ...

, but they have been lost.

Today

The building is owned by the Karberghus property company. The tenant is the law firm Husen Advokater,

References

External links

Architectural renderings
from Copenhagen Coty Archives
Levin family
{{Johan Daniel Herholdt Gammelholm Houses in Copenhagen Houses completed in 1866 1866 establishments in Denmark

History

Architecture

Today

Further reading

See also

References

External links