Aarhus County Hospital, or Aarhus Sygehus, Tage-Hansens Gade, was a hospital in Aarhus for 136 years, from 1882 to 2018. The hospital became a part of Aarhus University Hospital in 2011 in an administrative merger. In 2018, all hospital functions at Aarhus County Hospital were relocated to The New University Hospital (DNU) in Skejby in northern Aarhus. The hospital buildings are situated on ''Tage-Hansens Gade'' in the neighbourhood of Vesterbro in the

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

of Aarhus. The area is scheduled for redevelopment into a new residential area from 2019.

History

Aarhus County Hospital was established in 1882 on ''Kroghsgade'' which at the time was a part of Viby Municipality. The hospital was for the residents of

Aarhus County Aarhus County or Århus County ( da, Århus Amt) is a former county of Denmark ( Danish: ''amt'') on the Jutland peninsula. It was created in 1970 by a merger of three counties: Århus, Randers and Skanderborg. The county was abolished effectiv ...

while the inhabitants of Aarhus used an older hospital on ''Dynkarken''. The initial hospital complex consisted of a main building and another building for

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

with 42 beds. The new hospital quickly experienced insufficient space in spite of a series of large expansions. In the 1920s the County council recognized more investments were needed to secure the future of the hospital. Scientific advances had made it possible to heal far more diseases and the population within the county had exploded. The council hired the architect

Axel Høeg-Hansen Axel Høeg-Hansen (27 June 1877 – 30 August 1947) was a Danish architect. Stylistically he mainly worked in neoclassical and functionalist styles. He primarily worked in and around Aarhus at the turn of the 20th century. Background Axe ...

to develop a plan for an expansion. Høeg-Hansen presented a plan for an expansion that would cost 2 million Danish Kroner and another plan for a new hospital on a different site that would cost 3 million. The council abandoned any plans to build a new hospital and instead started working on plans for a new hospital.

Aarhus Municipality Aarhus Municipality ( da, Aarhus Kommune), known as Århus Municipality ( da, Århus Kommune) until 2011, is a municipality in Central Denmark Region, on the east coast of the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area ...

turned out to be interested in the existing hospital complex and offered 500,000 Danish kroner for it along with a large parcel of land between ''Silkeborgvej'' and ''Viborgvej''. The county accepted the offer partly because it was economically favorably and partly because the county hospital was increasingly collaborating with Aarhus University which lay close by. The agreement was signed in 1930.

was hired to design the new hospital and he created a large cohesive hospital complex with 316 beds. The hospital section was placed in a 200 meter long four story building oriented east to west. The building was divided in an east wing for medicinal treatment and a west wing for surgical treatment separated by a central hall. The patient rooms were divided in sections of 25 patients placed in three rooms with six beds, two rooms with two beds, and one room for single occupancy, a system that was maintained for decades to come. The hospital was inaugurated in 1935 after four million bricks had been laid and 4.1 million kroner had been spent. The county Hospital has since been expanded a number of times, many between 1947 and 1982, in response to rapid growth. In 2004 the Aarhus County restructured the hospitals and closed a number of functions and small departments on smaller hospitals in

Odder Odder is a town in Jutland, Denmark. The town is the seat of Odder municipality, and is the biggest town in the municipality. It is located 20 km south of Aarhus and 16 km south-east of Skanderborg. Odder is part of Business Region Aarhus, and ...

Grenå Grenaa (or Grenå) is a Danish town and seaport on the east coast of the Jutlandic peninsula. Tourism, education and commerce are important sectors in the economy of Grenaa. It is the only larger town on Djursland. Grenaa is the municipal seat, a ...

and on

Samsø Samsø (Anglicized: "Samso" or "Samsoe") is a Danish island in the Kattegat off the Jutland Peninsula. Samsø is located in Samsø municipality. The community has 3,724 inhabitants (2017) (January 2010:4,010) called ''Samsings'' and is 114&n ...

. At the same time Aarhus Municipal Hospital and Aarhus County Hospital merged to form one organisational unit, Aarhus Sygehus. In 2011, Aarhus Sygehus and

Skejby Sygehus Skejby Sygehus or Aarhus University Hospital, Skejby, was a university hospital in Aarhus, Denmark from 1988 to 2018. In 2011, Skejby Sygehus became part of Aarhus University Hospital Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) is a university hospita ...

merged to form Aarhus University Hospital. The county hospital complex was bought by Aarhus Municipality and will be redeveloped into a new residential neighborhood from 2019. The hospital functions was moved to a new hospital complex in Skejby in 2018.

Buildings

The County Hospital was designed by the architect

in a

Neoclassical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing sty ...

with some elements of Functionalism. The central part of the hospital complex is a four-story patient building connected to a T-shaped treatment building. The patient building is angled and bent to form three divisions. Individual buildings have rounded corners at the entrances and flat roofs. There is an emphasis on the horizontal with bands of yellow brick in the red-brick walls. The entrance to the hospital is through a gate in an employee building to the west. The hospital has an adjoining park which was established based on the treatment paradigm used at the time. Today most treatment is done on an

outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...

basis but when the hospital was built most patients were admitted for a period of time. Providing patients with fresh air and space was considered an integral part of treatment, partly because many dwellings were smaller and not as well insulated or heated. The hospital has been expanded a number of times, first by the architect

Harald Salling-Mortensen Harald Søren Salling-Mortensen (1902–1969) was a Danish architect who mainly worked in an around Aarhus in the first half of the 20th century. He designed several important buildings in the city and his style reflects the development of Danish ...

in 1963 and

Cubo Architects Cubo Architects is a Danish architectural practice located in Aarhus. The company was founded in 1992. Selected projects * 1996 Transportcenter, Hørning * 1998 Faculty for Health Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense * 2000 Jysk ...

in 2002.

References

;Publications *

External links

* {{official website, http://www.auh.dk/ Defunct hospitals in Aarhus Hospitals established in 1882 1882 establishments in Denmark Functionalist architecture in Aarhus