Erichsen Mansion

Erichsen Mansion
Erichsens Palæ
The mansion viewed from Kongens Nytorv
General information
Architectural style	Caspar Frederik Harsdorff
Location	Copenhagen
Country	Denmark
Coordinates	55°40′42.59″N 12°35′7.74″E / 55.6784972°N 12.5854833°E / 55.6784972; 12.5854833
Construction started	1799
Completed	1801
Client	Erich Erichsen

The Erichsen Mansion (Danish: Erichsens Palæ) is a historic building located at Kongens Nytorv in central Copenahgen9, Denmark. It is now part of Danske Bank's headquarters.

Back in the late 17th century, the site was made ip of five small properties. They were listed in Copenhagen's first cadastre from 1689 as No. 252–256 in Eastern Quarter. They belonged to councilman Jørgen Eilersen's widow (No. 252) diskal Mikkel Mikkelsen (No. 253 and No. 256), Gert Vinnike (No. 254), kammeradcokat Succow (No. 255).

In the new cadastre of 1756 the five properties were listed as No. 403–406 and No. 312. They belonged to etatsråd Holmsted (No 403), generalauditør Otto Borthuus, konsistorialråd Mathias Hvid (No. 405), captain Holst (No. 406) and kancelliråd Michael Platov (No. 312).o

The five properties were all destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1795, together with most of the other buildings in the area. They five fire sites were subsequently merged into a single property by merchant Erich Erichsen. The present building on the site was constructed for him in 1799 to designs by Caspar Frederik Harsdorff. After Harsdorff's death later in the same year, it was completed by his son-in-law Gottfried Schaper in 1801.^[1]

Rasmus Jørgensen, known as Specie-Jørgensen, purchased the building in 1833. In 1846, he sold it to royal furniture maker Christopher Bagnæs Hansen.

Kjøbenhavns Handelsbank acquired the building in 1888. The building was subsequently restored and adapted for its new use under supervision of the architect Frederik Levy. It was completed on 18 April 1891.^[2]

The building has a central projection with Ionic order columns supporting a triangular pediment. The relief depicting Mercury and Minerva shaking hands over an altar was designed by G. D. Gianelli.^[2] According to Schaper, Harsdorff had opposed this design since free-standing columns were deemed too dominant in private house design.^[1]

The interior is richly decorated by the French architect Joseph-Jacques Ramée and the French painter Pierre Étienne Lesueur with murals and frescos in Pompeian style.^[1]

• Rendering in the Danish National Art Library
• [1] Archived 2017-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Source