The Spæth House is a

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

-style mansion in

Helsingør Helsingør ( , ; ), classically known in English as Elsinore ( ), is a coastal city in northeastern Denmark. Helsingør Municipality had a population of 63,953 on 1 January 2025, making it the 23rd most populated municipality in Denmark. Helsin ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It was built by the first sugar manufacturer in Helsingør and served both as residence and warehouse. The building is listed and now houses a public

music school A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

for local youth.

History

18th century

The building takes its name after Johan Adam Spæth. Born in

Zerbst Zerbst () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Until an administrative reform in 2007, Zerbst was the capital of the former Anhalt-Zerbst district. Geography Zerbst is sit ...

, he had come to Helsingør at the age of 28 years. He initially worked as inn-keeper and wine trader. He soon began to trade with the many ships that called in Copenhagen to pay

Sound Dues The Sound Dues (or Sound Tolls; ) were a toll on the use of the Øresund, or "Sound" strait separating the modern day borders of Denmark and Sweden. The tolls constituted up to two thirds of Denmark's state income in the 16th and 17th centurie ...

. In 1744, he was one of the seven founders of Helsingør merchant's guild and was its

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

from 1754 to 1762. Many of the ships carried sugar cane from the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

. Sugar manufacturing was a lucrative business and in 1761, Spæth obtained a royal license to open Helsingør's sugar refinery at a site next to the coast road just south of Helsingør's Svingel Gate. A second sugar refinery was opened a little further down the coast road by C. C. Plum a little later. In 1765, he began the construction of a three-storey mansion on the other side of the road which would both serve as his private residence and warehouse. The sugar refinery was taken over by Niels Bregaard. Later it was converted into a merchant house owned by J. C. S. Bredstrup.

19th century

The priest and poet Caspar Johannes Boye (1791-1853), who was pastor at Saint Olaf's Church, lived in the house with his large family in 1835-1847.

20th century

In c. 1905, Kund & Rasmussen bought the building. The firm had until then been based at Bjergegade 26. It was owned by Carl Georg Ejnar Rasmussen and Wilhelm Lund. The building was expanded with a lower wing on the southwest gable in 1932. The building was in the 1980s and 1990s used by the Civil Defence Agency but was sold to Helsingør Municipality in 1999 and adapted for use by the city's public

Architecture

The Rococo-style mansion consists of three storeys and a

mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

with black-glazed tiles. It is nine bays wide and three bays deep. The front has a three-bay central projection tipped by a triangular pediment with arched niche. A one-bay projection on the northeast gable continues in a tall

wall dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

with hoist, testifying to the building's dual function as both warehouse and residence.

References