Dehn Mansion

Friedrich Ludwig von Dehn

Nicolai Eigtved's masterplan for Copenhagen's new Frederiksstaden district was presented in 1749. The four most prestigious lots were those of the four Amalieborg mansions that would surround the central, octagonal plaza of the new district. Then followed the two lots at the corners of the axially symmetrix street Frederiksgade that marked the entrance to Amalienborg from Norgesgade (now Bredgade). In return for 30 years of freedom from property taxes, the two privy councilors Frederik Ludvig von Dehn and Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff committed themselves to building the two identical town mansions that were called for in Eigtved's masterplan.

The Dehn Mansion and the Bernstorff Mansion

Dehn and Bernstorff commissioned the architect Johann Gottfried Rosenberg to design and construct the two buildings. Dehn had possibly already used Rosenborg for the design of Gut Ludwigsburg in Schleswig. The plans were approved by Eigtved in 1753 and the Dehn Mansion was completed in 1755.[1]

Dehn was appointed to stadtholder in Schleswig-Holstein in 1762 and therefore ended up selling his town mansion in Copenhagen to Ditlev Reventlow in 1766. Reventlow passed it on to his son Fritz Reventlow in 1779. In 1794, it was purchased by Frederick Christian II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Duke Frederick fell out of favour at the Danish court after the English Wars. The mansion was in 1810 purchased for speculative reasons by a consortium consisting of Frederik Julius Kaas, William Duntzfelt and Niels Rosenkrantz. They divided it into two separate properties bit sold them both to Carl Ludwig von Baudissin in 1811. He died in 1913.

Christopher MacEvoy Jr., a merchant and planter from St. Croix in the Danish West Indies, purchased the mansion in 1819. He had recently also purchased the Bernstorff Palace in Charlottenlund north of the city.[2]

The Dehn Mansion painted by H. G. F. Holm in circa 1840

The Dehn Mansion changed hands several times after MacEvoy's death in 1838. In 1842, it was acquired by Carl Frederik Blixen Finecke. His brother-in-law, Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel, heir to the Danish throne until 1852, purchased the mansion in 1844. He rented the smaller, southern part of the building out, for instance to the writer Johan Ludvig Heiberg and his wife Johanne Luise Heiberg.

Hornung & Møller

In 1871 the northern and southern part of the mansion were sold to different buyers. The southern part was acquired by the Knuth family for Christopher Knuth. He owned it until his death in 1942, using it as his winter home while spending the summers on the Lilliendal estate at Vordingborg. The larger northern part of the mansion was acquired by piano manufacturer Frederik Møller and ceded to Hornung & Møller in 1900.

The Russian delegation in the process of moving out of their premises, 1919

The Russian diplomatic delegation in Copenhagen was also a tenant in the building but closed down in 1919.

The insurance company Nord & Syd acquired both parts of the mansion in 1942. Det Dansk-Franske Dampskibsselskab, a shipping company, acquired the building in 1956.

In 1976, the mansion was taken over by the state and put through a major renovation. The northern part was sold to Danish Association of Pharmaconomists in 1980.

two parts of the mansion were once again sold to different buyers. The northern part was taken over by the government and used for housing the Ministry of Environmental Affairs. The southern part has for instance housed the Danish Copyright Bureau.

The Dehn Mansion is designed in the Late Baroque/Rococo style. The main facades towards Bredgade consist of three three-storey pavilions with Mansard roofs connected by lower, two-storey sections.

The piano nobile has tall, arched windows tpååed bnu sandstone decorations. The facade has ear-lesenes (i.e. small square and the central pavilions also have pilasters with highly decorated capitals and grooves at the ground floor level. The cornices are decorated with Vases and cartouches on the roofs.

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