The Mahnfeldt House is a listed property fronting the Nyhavn canal in Copenhagen, Denmark. It takes its name after the company E. Mahnfeldt, which was based at the site from 1852 to 1942.
History
The property was built in 1739 for grocer became a successful actress and opera singer. Peter Berg, who took over the business, owned the house for more than forty years. The architectJohan Daniel Herholdt lived in the building from 1847 to 1853. Carl Mahnfeldt, a cooper, took over the building in 1852 and founded a company on 2 December that same year. In 1873, he passed the company on to his son Home Ernst Johan Sophus Mahnfeldt who renamed the company to E. Mahnfeldt. He died in 1880 just 39 years old and his widow then ran the company under the name E. Mahnfeldt's Enke until 1914 when she passed it on to their son Ernst Emil Johan Sophus Mahnfeldt. He died in 1936 and his widow Gerda Mahnfeldt then ran the company until 1942 when she passed it on to their son Erik E. Mahnfeldt. He moved the company to new premises at Strandlodsvej 11 on Amager but it continued to own the property at Nyhavn 65 at least until 1950.
Architecture
The Mahnfeldt House stands in blank brick over four storeys and is nine bays wide. The three central bays are flanked bytwo pilsters and are tipped by a three-bay wall dormer. Above the gate is a compass rose surrounded by three figures. Below is an hourglass, a Swallowtail flag and a compass. The figure to the left represents Mercury. A seated woman holds a torch in her hand and has flowers in her lap. Two half-timbered side wings extend from the rear side of the building. The western side wing is in two storeys and dates from some time between 1739 and 1756. The eastern side wing is in three storeys and dates from some time between 1756 and 1801. The courtyard also contains a half-timbered rear wing and a three-storey, half-timbered warehouse.
Today
The groundfloor of the building is occupied by a restaurant, Kompasset, which specializes in smørrebrød. A consultancy, Mfp Konsulenterne, is also based in the building. It also contains a number of private dwellings.
