Carlsminde is a Baroque-style mansion located at Søllerødvej 30 in

Søllerød Søllerød is a suburban district of Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. The original village, one of the oldest in the area, is perched on Søllerød Hill on the south side of Søllerød Lake. It merged with ...

, Rudersdal Municipality, some 20 kilometres north of 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 = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918. The political party Venstre has been based in the building since 1971 and is currently for sale.

History

18th century

Carlsminde originates in an old tenant farm. Court physician and ''kancelliråd'' Johan Peter Homuth constructed a small country house on the land in 1751 and later expanded the estate with more land twice. The current building was built for a later owner, Peter Wasserfalls, a grocer and manufacturer, probably a few years prior to his death in 1782. Wasserfall left the estate to his son who also purchased another nearby property.

19th century

Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow, a landonwe and the country's prime minister, who wanted a summer residence close to Copenhagen, purchased the estate in 1799. In 1804, Bolette Rudolphine Berg (1761–1836) purchased the estate. She gave it its current name in memory of her late husband Carl Berg. She also completed a park in English landscape style. From 1855 to 1867, Carlsminde was owned by hunting master Rasmus Petersen. During this period Carlsminde changed status from tenant farm to ownership. The house was then owned by composer

Emil Hartmann Emil Hartmann (1 February 1836, Denmark – 18 July 1898, Copenhagen, Denmark) was a Danish composer of the romantic period, fourth generation of composers in the Danish Hartmann musical family. Early life and education Hartmann was born o ...

. A later owner,

Valet de chambre ''Valet de chambre'' (), or ''varlet de chambre'', was a court appointment introduced in the late Middle Ages, common from the 14th century onwards. Royal households had many persons appointed at any time. While some valets simply waited on t ...

G. F. Bentzen, changed the facade in 1894.

20th century

In 1903, Carlsminde was acquired by bank manager Isak Glückstadt. He expanded the estate from 10 to 25 hectares. The park was expanded by the landscape architect Erstad Jørgensen . It was centred on a lake with pikes and

tench The tench or doctor fish (''Tinca tinca'') is a fresh- and brackish-water fish of the order Cypriniformes found throughout Eurasia from Western Europe including the British Isles east into Asia as far as the Ob and Yenisei Rivers. It is also ...

es and was also home to two Indian elephants. In 1907 Glückstadt commissioned

Carl Brummer Carl Harald Brummer (12 July 1864 – 14 February 1953) was a Danish architect who was influential in the design of homes at the beginning of the 20th century. Biography Brummer was born in Bogense. After attending the Danish Academy from 18 ...

to build a Norwegian-style cabin. It was moved to

Rungsted Rungsted, also known as ''Rungsted Kyst'' is an affluent suburban neighborhood in Hørsholm Municipality on the Øresund coast north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The center of Hørsholm is located two kilometers west of Rungsted. At the Øresund coast i ...

in 1910 and to

Holte Holte is a suburban district in Rudersdal Municipality on the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. The local town centre is centred on Holte station and is surrounded by extensive areas of single-family, detached homes as well as several ...

in the early 1940s. Dethlef Jürgensen owned Carlsminde from 1913 to 1947. He sold off most of the land, creating the streets Carlsmindevej and Carlsmindeparken. Jürgensen was a central figure at Klampenborg Racecourses. In 1913 he constructed the side wing with stables for nine horses. A later owner, Erik Møller, a CEO, established a riding ground to the rear of the stables in the 1950s. Venstre acquired the property in 1970 and has been based there since 1971. On 19 March 2023, Venstre announced their intention to sell Carlsminde in order to get new ones closer to Copenhagen.

Architecture

The main building fronts a large courtyard located on the southside of Søllerødsvej. A detached side wing marks the east side of the courtyard. The main building is 11 bays long and consists of a high cellar, bel étage and a hipped Mansard roof with blue-glazed tiles. The three-bay median risalit was adapted in the 1893. The two windows that flanked the main entrance were replaced by niches with sandstone vases. The

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

-style

Cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

above the main entrance and the Neclassical attica was also added at this point. The combination of decorative elements from different architectural styles is a characteristic feature of the

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 ...

style that dominated Danish architecture in the 1890s. The side wing contains two small apartments flanking a stable with room for nine horses. The northern gable of the side wing is integrated in the wall that partly surrounds the property.

Today

The secretariat of Venstre is based in the building. The garden is used for events on

Constitution Day Constitution Day is a holiday to honour the constitution of a country. Constitution Day is often celebrated on the anniversary of the signing, promulgation or adoption of the constitution, or in some cases, to commemorate the change to constitut ...

(5 June).

List of owners

* (1751-?) Johan Peter Homuth * (?-1782) Peter Wasserfalls * (1688-1804) Christian Ditlev Frederik Reventlow * (1855-1867) Rasmus Petersen *

* (1903-1913) G. F. Bentzen * (1890s) Isak Glückstadt * (1913-1947) Dethlef Jürgensen * (1950-erne)Erik Møller * (1959-1970) Høsjsteretssagfør Gerda Schiørring, née Riis * (1970-) Partiet Venstre

References

External links

Venstre
{{Copenhagen historic houses Houses in Rudersdal Municipality Listed buildings and structures in Rudersdal Municipality Baroque architecture in Copenhagen