Ved Stranden 16


Ved Stranden 16 is a narrow, mid18th-century property located opposite Christiansborg Palace in central Copenhagen, Denmark. The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918. It is flanked by the former Hotel Royal to the left and the Gustmeyer House to the right.

History

18th and 19th century

The building at the site was damaged in the Copenhagen Fire of 1728. The property was later acquired by General War Commissioner Stephen Hansen. He commissioned Philip de Lange to construct a new building in 1748. Philip de Lange, whom he knew from the Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society, had most likely already built a new main building at Hellebækgård for him. Hansen resigned from the military in 1750 to focus on his civil career as an industrialist and merchant in Helsingør where de Lange constructed the Stephen Hansen Mansion for him in 1754,
The property at Ved Stranden 16 was in the middle of the 19th century owned by a wholesale merchant named Harboe.

20th century

Limfjordskompagniet, a manufacturer of shellfish from Mors, opened an outlet in the basement in the 1910s.
Kraks Fond, which had until then been based in the Krak House on Nytorv, was a tenant in the building from 1898. It is now based in Fæstningens Materialgård.

Architecture

Philip de Lange's original building consisted of three floors over a high cellar and the facade was crowned by a pediment. The building was heightened with one floor for Harboe in 1844–46. The building is four bays wide of which the two outer bays are slightly recessed. The windows are brown painted and the two central windows on the three lower floors are framed in sandstone. The two central windows on the bel étage are topped by open pediments with reliefs of fruit baskets. A cornice supported by corbels line the top of the building. The roof is clad with red tile and features three dormer windows.
A gateway flanked by two lanterns is located in the left hand side of the ground floor while a short flight of stairs in the second bay from the right leads down to the basement. The gateway opens to a narrow courtyard. A doorway in the south wall of the gateway affords access to the main staircase of the building.
Two consecutive side wings project from the rear side of the building. The first one is six bays long and dates from 1795. The second one is four bays long and dates from1705. Both of them were originally three storeys high but were heightened together with the front wing in 1844.

Today

The ground floor is home to a cava bar. Rud Pedersen, a public affairs agency, is based on the second floor.