Knabrostræde Knabrostræde is a street in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark. It runs from Strøget (Vimmelskaftet/Nygade) in the northwest to Nybrogade at Slotsholmen, Slotsholmen Canal in the southeast, crossing Strædet (Kompagnistræde) on the way. His ...

3 is a Neoclassical property located off the major shopping street

Strøget Strøget () is a pedestrian, car-free shopping area in Copenhagen, Denmark. This popular tourist attraction in the centre of town is one of the longest pedestrian shopping streets in Europe at 1.1 km. Located at the centre of the old city ...

in central

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 ...

, Denmark. The building was like many of the buildings in the street constructed in the years after the

Copenhagen Fire of 1795 The Copenhagen Fire of 1795 (''Københavns brand 1795'') started on Friday, 5 June 1795, at or around 3 pm by the Navy's old base south east of Kongens Nytorv on Gammelholm, in the Navy's magazine for coal and timber, the so-called Dellehave. As t ...

but owes its current appearance to a comprehensive renovation in 1826 and an adaption of the facade in 1859. On its rear is a small, partly cobbled courtyard with a former warehouse (No. 3 A) and a rear wing (No. 3 B). No. 3 was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1950. Chateau Motel, one of Copenhagen's largest dance and night clubs, has been based in the rear wing since 2017.

History

The buildings at the site were destroyed in the

. The current building was in 1797 constructed for a sugar refinery simply known as Sukkerrafinaderiet (The Sugar Refinery). It was built on a property which continued all the way to Vimmelskaftet (now Knabrostræde 1). This large property was in the new

cadastre A cadastre or cadaster ( ) is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref> Often it is represented graphically in ...

of 1806 listed as Snaren's Quarter, No. 134. The sugar refinery's building was in 1825 sold off and separately listed as No. 134B. It was subsequently subject to a comprehensive renovation the following year. The naval officer

Peter Norden Sølling Commodore (rank), Commodore Peter Norden Sølling (13 September 1758 – 7 February 1827) was a Norwegian naval officer and sea captain. He designed and personally led the construction of a type of pilot boats, "Sølling's pilot boats", which gain ...

(1758-1827), remembered for founding the charity

Bombebøssen Bombebøssen is a listed property from 1896 overlooking Christianshavn Canal in the Christianshavn neighbourhood of central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built by the charity Sømandsstiftelsen Bombebøssen to provide housing for indigent seamen. H ...

Christianshavn Christianshavn () is a neighbourhood in Copenhagen, Denmark. Part of the Indre By District, it is located on several artificial islands between the islands of Zealand and Amager and separated from the rest of the city centre by the Inner Harbour, ...

, was among the residents in 1826. At the time of the 1840 census, No. 134B was home to a total of 27 people. These included the Supreme Court lawyer Carl Christian Birch Liebenberg. The other residents included

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

and ''kammerjunker'' Frederik Christian Wichfeld, the widow of pharmacist in

Frederikssund Frederikssund () is a Denmark, Danish town, seat of the Frederikssund Municipality, in the Capital Region of Denmark, Region Hovedstaden with a population of 17,583 (1 January 2025).

Carl Ludvig Becker and a grocer (''urtekræmmer''). The military officer Christian Carl Lundbye (1812-1873) resided in the building from 1851 to 1856. He would later serve as Minister of Defense from 1856 to 1859 and again from 1863 to 1864. With the introduction of

House numbering House numbering is the system of giving a unique number to each building in a street or area, with the intention of making it easier to locate a particular building. The house number is often part of a Address (geography), postal address. The ter ...

in Copenhagen 1859, Snaren's Quarter No. 134 B became Knabrostræde 3. The painter L.A. Ring lived in the building in 188687. On 19 July 1888, F. C. Hvilsom (1830-1903) opened a Stationery shop and bag manufactory in the building. The activities were later expanded with a book printing facility at Rolighedsvej 18. The enterprise was upon his death continued by his widow Rosalie Hvilsom and their sons E. E. Hvilsom (1881-1927) and F. V. Hvilsom (1880-1936). In 1906, F. C. Hvilsoms Sønner was moved to

Gothersgade Gothersgade (; see #The name, below) is a major street in the Indre By, City Centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It extends from Kongens Nytorv to The Lakes, Copenhagen, Sortedam Lake, passing Rosenborg Castle and Rosenborg Castle Gardens, Gardens, Nø ...

76. Mørcl & C., a coffee roastery, was after the turn of the century for a while based in the rear wing.

Pan Club Copenhagen Pan Club Copenhagen (often just referred to as Pan) was a gay club in central Copenhagen, Denmark which closed in 1994 after having been in operation on various locations in Copenhagen since 1970. However already in 1996 private owners opened a ...

, an LGBY night club, opened in the rear wing in 1980. It closed on 14 April 2007. It was later on and off continued as an LGBT night club under other names until 2016.

Architecture

No. 3 consists of three storeys over a raised cellar and is ten bays long. The sugar refinery's building was already in 1826 subject to extensive alterations and was prior to this just five bays long. The current facade design dates mainly from another adaption in 1856. The building has rusticated finishing on the ground floor, stucco decorations with lion heads under the windows on the first Storey and a

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s under the roof. The building was also subject to alterations in 1870. The gateway opens to a small, partly cobbled courtyard. A short perpendicular side wing extends from the rear side of the building. A former warehouse (No. 3A) and a rear wing (No. 3B) are located in the courtyard. The former warehouse is five bays wide with large central openings with shutters and a wall dormer with the remains of a

pulley Sheave without a rope A pulley is a wheel on an axle or shaft enabling a taut cable or belt passing over the wheel to move and change direction, or transfer power between itself and a shaft. A pulley may have a groove or grooves between flan ...

Today

Knabrostæde 3 was by 2008 owned by E/F Knabrostræde 3. It has later been sold to Jorcks Ejendomsselskab. The tenants include Jorcks Ejendomsselskab, a developer of video games. Chateau Motel, a dance and night club, opened in Pan Club's former premises in 1996.

Gallery

File:Knabrostræde 3 (Copenhagen) - detail 01.jpg, Gate Image:Knabrostræde 3 (Copenhagen) - detail 03.jpg, Stucco decoration below one of the windows

References

External links

{{Commons category, Knabrostræde 3
Source

Source
Buildings and structures completed in 1797 Listed buildings and structures in Copenhagen Neoclassical architecture in Copenhagen Sugar refineries in Copenhagen Warehouses in Copenhagen