Jørgen Hansen Koch

Jørgen Hansen Koch (4 September 1787 – 30 January 1860) 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.

Jørgen Hansen Koch
Born(1787-09-04)4 September 1787
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died30 January 1860(1860-01-30) (aged 72)
Copenhagen, Denmark
NationalityDanish
OccupationArchitect
BuildingsSæby Church

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 (1746-1801), a ship builder, and Anne Cathrine née Folkersen (1758-1809). 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,[1] 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.[2] 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.[2]

In 1837 he became part of the Committee for the Foundation of Thorvaldsen's Museum.[3]

Koch was responsible for a number of renovations and reconstructions of Royal residences, including Brockdorff's Palace (1827–28) and Bernstorff's Mansion (1829). He also designed a number of schools, including Frederiksborg Latin School and Roskilde Cathedral School (1842).[2]

In Copenhagen, he designed the Hansen Mansion (1835) in Frederiksstaden.

[Ida Koch, née Wulff, painted by J. K. Lund (1831)

Jørgen Koch was married to Ida Koch née Wulff, a daughter of counter admiral Peter Frederik Wulff (1774-1848) and Hanne Henriette Weinholt (1784-1836). The couple had three sons: Jørgen Hansen Koch (1829-1919), a head teacher, Peter Frederik Koch (1832-1907), a Justitiarius, and Hans Henrik Koch (1836-1903), a navel officer who reached the rank of vice admiral.

Jørgen and Ida Koch belonged to the circle around Hans Christian Andersen. Andersen had an open invitation to visit the family for dinner on Fridays. Andersen also developed a friendly relationship with their children which continued after the parents' death, as did the dinner arrangement on Fridays. Andersen also new other members of the Koch and Wulff families.[4]

Selected works
Duebrødre Kloster
Hegnetslund
Frederiksborg Latin School
Roskilde Cathedral School (now Roskilde Gymnasium)

Extensions and adaptions and refurbishments
Sæby Church
  • Surfical Academy, Bredgade 62, København (1823)
  • Sæby Church, Sæby, Hornsherred (1823)
  • Lindegården, Hornsherred (1827, demolished)
  • Extension of Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen (1827, 20 columns and other elements now in Museet på Koldinghus)
  • Holstein Mansion, Stormgade 10, Copenhagen (1827)
  • Fasangården, Frederiksberg Park (1828)
  • Amalienborg, Brockdorff Palace, Copenhagen (1827-28)
  • Bernstorff Mansion, Bredgade 42, Copenhagen (1829)
  • Charlottenlund Palace, Copenhagen
  • Frederiksberg Palace, Copenhagen (1828)
  • Gatehouse at Frederiksborg Palace, opførelse af portbygning ved samme (1829)
  • Justo, Frederiksberg Park, Frederiksberg (1834, extended and altered by Christian Klingsey 1900)
  • Stændersal, Viborg (1834)
  • Stændersal, Roskilde (1835, Yellow Mansion)
  • Cantor's House, Vallø (1836)
  • Royal Danish Library, Copenhagen (1837, demolished in 1874)
  • Elers Kollegium, Store Kannikestræde 9, Copenhagen (1837)
  • Kiel Palace (1838, demolished after WW2 bombing)
  • Odense Slot, sydlige østfløj (1837), have, smst. (1840) og interiør, smst. (1841)
  • Frederiksgave, Assens, Denmark (1841)
  • Hofteatret, Christiansborg Ridehus, Copenhagen (1842)
  • Gottorp Castle (1842)
  • Yellow Mansion, Amaliegade 18, Copenhagen (1842)
  • Bernstorff Palace, Jægersborg Allé (1844)
  • Aarhus Cathedral School, Skolegyde, Aarhus (1847-49, extendedHack Kampmann 1904, C.F. Møller 1957)
  • South Wing of Slagelse Hospital, Slagelse (1848)
  • New wing of Ladegården, Frederiksberg (1848, nedrevet 1930)
  • Frederiksborg Castle, Badstuen (1849)
  • Orince's Mansion, København (1849, nu Nationalmuseet)
  • Børsen, København

Unrealized projects
  • Teater og gård (1824)
  • Hellerupgård, veranda (1825)
  • Pakhus (1827)
  • Herregård og stald (1829)
  • Rådhus (præmieret, 1833)
  • Thorvaldsens Museum (1839, konkurrenceforslag)
  • Flere udkast til pavilloner (1842 og udateret)
  • Hovedbygning (1850)
  • Mønstertegninger til fængsler og tinghuse (1840)
  • Møbler; kgl. sarkofag (1850)

Other works
  • Decoration for A.W. Moltkes wedding (1823)
  • Living room at Bregentved (1824)

Burial monuments
  • Gravsten for gehejmestatsminister Niels Rosenkrantz, Rye Kirke (1824)
  • Gravsten for Minna von Witzleben, Vemmetofte (1849)
  • Sarkofag for læge Heinrich Callisen, Sankt Petri Kirke (1824)
  • Sarkofag for landgreve Frederik Vilhelm Carl Ludvig af Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1834)
  • Sarkofag for Christian VIII (1848, Roskilde Domkirke)

Written works
  • Hvilke Fordringer burde der vel især gjøres til en Bygmester i Danmark, Kunstforeningen, København 1834.

See also

References
  1. "Jørgen Koch". Bertel Thorvaldsens Brevarkiv. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  2. "Jørgen Hansen Koch". Gyldendal. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
  3. "Comitteen for Oprettelsen af Thorvaldsens Museum". Bertel Thorvaldsens Brevarkiv. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  4. "H.C.Andersen og familierne Wulff og Koch". Andersenmania. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
Cultural offices
Preceded by
Bertel Thorvaldsen		 Director of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
1844–1849		 Succeeded by
Herman Wilhelm Bissen
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