Toftegårds Plads is the largest square in the

Valby Valby () is one of the 10 official districts of Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark. It is in the southwestern corner of Copenhagen Municipality, and has a mixture of different types of housing. This includes apartment blocks, terraced housing, area ...

district of

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 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 is bisected by Vigerslev Allé and situated on the corner with Gammel Køge Landevej.

History

The square was originally established in 1928 when a

turning loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop (Glossary of North American railway terms, North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to Shunting (rail), shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be u ...

for trams was created on the corner of Vigerslev Allé with Toftegårds Allé. A roundabout was also established at the junction Vigerslev Allé, Gammel Køge Landevej and Toftegårds Allé. The area to the south of Vigerslev Allé was originally the site of Kuhles Kulsyre- og Lakfabrik, a manufacturer of

carbonic acid Carbonic acid is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . The molecule rapidly converts to water and carbon dioxide in the presence of water. However, in the absence of water, it is quite stable at room temperature. The interconversion ...

and lacquer. The factory was later taken over by A. Stallings and used for production of paint and lacquer under the name Lak- og Farvefabrik og før den Kuhles Kulsyre- og Lakfabrik syd for Vigerslev Alle. Toftegårds Plads grew to its current size when most of Stalling's buildings were demolished in 1979. The square was used as a hub for trams until 1973 and for buses until 1989. In 2010, Copenhagen Municipality launched an architectural competition for the redesign of the square.

The square

The progonal, northern portion of the square was designed when the buses moved to the other side of Vigerslev Allé in 1982. The design includes a water feature and a number of artworks by

Jens-Flemming Sørensen Jens-Flemming Sørensen (30 August 1933 – 1 December 2017) was a Danish sculptor. Originally a tailor he worked most of his life as an artist of sculptures. Most of his work was fashioned from bronze and marble and frequently incorporated spheri ...

Notable buildings and residents

The northern, original part of the square is lined with apartment blocks in red brick. They are from 1921 to 1924 and were designed by Rolf Schroeader with Frederik Wagner as executing architect. Valby Kulturhus

Stellings's former administration building and a former factory building are located on the east side of the southern portion of the square (Valgaardsvej). The adjacent Nordisk Kulsyrefabrik (Nordic Carbonic Acid Factory) with its condensator tower is from 1896. The buildings now house Valby Cultural Centre (Valby Kulturhus). The south side of the square is occupied by the headquarters of Movia,

Greater Copenhagen The urban area of Copenhagen (also known as Greater Copenhagen) ( or ), lying mostly in the Capital Region of Denmark but also in Region Zealand, consist of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg municipalities and the former Copenhagen County. In all, it ...

's main bus operator. It was built for the company's predecessor HT (Hovedstadens Trafikselskab) in the 1980s.

History

The square

Notable buildings and residents

Transport

See also

References

External links