Jørgen Hansen Koch


Jørgen Hansen Koch was a Neoclassical Danish architect. He was the leader of the national Danish building administration from 1835 and director of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1844 to 1849.
Koch and especially his wife Ida Koch were close friends of the writer Hans Christian Andersen, who would typically visit the Koch family on Friday evenings.evening

Early life and education

Joch was born on 4 September 1787 in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, the son of Jørgen Hansen Koch, a ship builder, and Anne Cathrine née Folkersen. He initially apprenticed as a carpenter. He attended the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1807 to 1816 where he studied under Christian Frederik Hansen, the leading Danish architect of the time. In 1818, together with the sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund, he traveled to Rome where he met Bertel Thorvaldsen and other members of the Danish artists' colony who resided in the city at that time. Freund became Thorvaldsen's assistant while Koch later continued to Greece, making him the first Danish architect educated at the Academy to visit the cradle of the Classical architecture which was the period's main source of inspiration for architects. He also visited Constantinople before returning to Italy. In 1822 he returned to Denmark by way of France and London.

Career

Back in Denmark, Koch was appointed Royal Master Builder, succeeding Christian Frederik Hansen as the leader of the national building administration. From 1835 he also held a professorial chair at the Royal Academy and between 1844 and 1849 served as its director.
In 1837 he became part of the Committee for the Foundation of Thorvaldsen's Museum.
Koch was responsible for a number of renovations and reconstructions of Royal residences, including Brockdorff's Palace and Bernstorff's Mansion. He also designed a number of schools, including Frederiksborg Latin School and Roskilde Cathedral School.
In Copenhagen, he designed the Hansen Mansion in Frederiksstaden.

Family and Hans Christian Andersen link

Selected works