Sophus Frederik Kühnel (11 May 1851 – 13 October 1930) was a Danish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

best known for his design of Mejlborg and a number of other buildings in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

Biography

Kühnel was born in

Sæby Sæby () is a town and seaport located on the east coast of the historical region of Vendsyssel on the North Jutlandic Island in northern Denmark. The town is located in Frederikshavn municipality in Region Nordjylland. It has a population of 8,9 ...

, Denmark. He was the son of parish priest Theodor Sextus Kühnel and Betzy Larsen. He moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

to study at the

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts () has provided education in the arts for more than 250 years, playing its part in the development of the art of Denmark. History The Royal Danish Academy of Portraiture, Sculpture, and Architecture in Cope ...

. Upon graduation he found employment with Vilhelm Dahlerup and

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 t ...

in Copenhagen. In the 1880s Kühnel moved to Aarhus to work as inspector for Vilhelm Theodor Walther on the restoration of Aarhus Cathedral. Kühnel stayed in

and was responsible for a number of notable structures there. His work is

historicist Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying the process or history by which they came about. The term is widely used in philosophy, ant ...

often inspired by

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

Gothic Architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

. The Business- and Agricultural Bank of Jutland building utilizes a style inspired by Italian architecture and the richly decorated Mejlborg is a mix of Gothic and Renaissance architecture. Kühnel worked on the National Exhibition of 1909 where he helped move an old building from 1596 to the historic section of the exhibit. The old buildings displayed there became the later Old Town Museum partly on the initiative of Kühnel. He worked for the museum for many years and orchestrated the relocation of several old buildings to the museum.

Selected works

* Ny Munkegade's School (1894) * Langelandsgade Barracks (1889) * Mejlborg (1898) * Business- and Agricultural Bank of Jutland (1900) * Kasino-Teatret (1900) * Aarhus Fire Station (1904) * Villa Alba (1904), Chr. Filtenborgs Plads

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhnel, Sophus Frederik 1851 births 1930 deaths People from Sæby Danish architects Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts alumni