Hvidøre 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 ...

: Hvidøre) is a former country house at

Klampenborg Klampenborg is a northern suburb to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in Gentofte Municipality, directly on Øresund, between Taarbæk and Skovshoved. Like other neighbourhoods along the Øresund coast, Klampenborg is an affluent area with many ...

, just south of Bellevue Beach, on the

Øresund Øresund or Öresund (, ; da, Øresund ; sv, Öresund ), commonly known in English as the Sound, is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The strait has a length of ; its width ...

coast 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. It is most known for serving as the home of Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, daughter of King

Christian IX Christian IX (8 April 181829 January 1906) was King of Denmark from 1863 until his death in 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg. A younger son of Frederick William, Duke of Schleswig-Holstei ...

and mother of the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, after she was exiled by the Russian Revolution of 1917. It now serves as a conference and training venue for the Novo Group.

History

Origins

At the beginning of the 16th century, King

John of Denmark John (Danish, Norwegian and sv, Hans; né ''Johannes'') (2 February 1455 – 20 February 1513) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union. He was king of Denmark (1481–1513), Norway (1483–1513) and as John II ( sv, Johan II ...

built a royal residence at Hvidøre, guarding the only landing place to the north of Copenhagen. King

Christian II Christian II (1 July 1481 – 25 January 1559) was a Scandinavian monarch under the Kalmar Union who reigned as King of Denmark and Norway, from 1513 until 1523, and Sweden from 1520 until 1521. From 1513 to 1523, he was concurrently Duke ...

used it for his mistress and her mother after his marriage to Princess Elisabeth of Habsburg in 1515. The castle changed hands many times over the centuries, and was eventually acquired by Counsellor in 1871. He demolished it and charged the architect with the design of a country house to be built in its place, for use as a summer residence for his family. From then on, the name Hvidøre denoted the house rather than the locality. Hvidøre was built from 1871. Counsellor Bruun died in 1887, but his widow kept Hvidøre until 1906.

Royal residents

In February 1906, King

's daughters, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom and Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, acquired the building for DKK 280,000 to use it as a summer residence during their frequent visits to their native Denmark. They commissioned an aging Johan Schrøder to adapt and modernize the house with modern conveniences such as

central heating A central heating system provides warmth to a number of spaces within a building from one main source of heat. It is a component of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (short: HVAC) systems, which can both cool and warm interior spaces. ...

while the British firm

Waring & Gillow Waring & Gillow (also written as Waring and Gillow) was a noted firm of English furniture manufacturers and antique dealers formed in 1897 by the merger of Gillows of Lancaster and London and Waring of Liverpool. Background Gillow & Co. The fir ...

was put in charge of most of the interior decorations. A tunnel was also dug to provide direct access to the beach, which belonged to Hvidøre but was separated from it by the coastal road. In the years that followed, the sisters generally stayed at Hvidøre from September until November, but this came to an end with the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914. After the overthrow of the monarchy in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in the

1917 Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of governm ...

, Maria Feodorovna, known as Princess Dagmar of Denmark before her marriage, fled

and took up residency at Hvidøre until her death in 1928, together with her daughter and son-in-law, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and Nikolai Kulikovsky, and their two children. In 1930 Olga and her sister Xenia sold Hvidøre.

Later history

In 1932,

Musse Scheel Musse is a surname and given name. Musse (also spelled as musa) (مُوسَىٰ‎, Mūsā) is a male given name in the Arabic language. It is derived from a Hebrew-language phrase meaning "drawn out of the water" and corresponds to Moses (see Moses ...

, the daughter of Frederik Christian Bruun who had married Count Ulrik Scheel, acquired her childhood home, reputedly to prevent the felling of an old tree in the gardens. She only lived in the house for two years before moving to the mansion at 5 Kristianiagade now the Embassy of Russia in Copenhagen. In 1937 the Hvidøre estate was acquired by Novo Industry. Thorvald Pedersen, the founder and managing director of the company, commissioned

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA () 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple we ...

to build him a private home close by and considered tearing down the old house, but in the end Jacobsen was asked to adapt it into a

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

which opened on 28 January 1938. People with diabetes could get treatment and learn to live with their disease and have an active life. The hospital accommodated 25 patients. An underground extension of the building, designed by the architectural firm Dissing + Weitling, was constructed 1978-1980.Jørgen Sestoft: Hvidøre. En bygning og et miljø fra la belle époque. Architectura 5, pages 54-82, Copenhagen 1983 (in Danish). Hvidøre continued to serve as a diabetes hospital until 1991 and is now an internal conference center for the Novo Group.

Architecture and surroundings

Hvidøre is built to 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 ...

design which combines Italian and Victorian Renaissance features. Five Neo-Grecian

caryatid A caryatid ( or or ; grc, Καρυᾶτις, pl. ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "ma ...

s form part of the upper balcony. They were created by the sculptor Otto Evens. On the coast below the house there is a beach park designed by the landscape architect Carl Theodor Sørensen while the architect Povl Baumann designed the wall and pergola. Also located close by is the Emiliekilde monument.

Hvidøre today

Today the Hvidøre property serves as an internal conference and training centre for the Novo Group.

References

External links

Novo Group Website

Former owner?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hvidore (building) Houses in Copenhagen Buildings and structures in Gentofte Municipality Historicist architecture in Copenhagen Houses completed in 1872