Kan også læses på: Dansk

Arne Jacobsen’s private house

A very early work by the one person who more than anyone else incarnates Danish, modern architecture AND design: Arne Jacobsen.

Born in 1902 he was still a young man when he finished this modern style home for his own family in 1929.

It features most important hallmarks of the new style:

• white plastered facades,
• rectangular shapes in an asymmetrical, abstract composition,
• flat roofs,
• a roof terrace
• big windows, wrapping the corners,
• simple standard parts,
• and a couple maritime references to ocean liners:
  • portholes and
  • steel stairs and railings.

The house demonstrates his devotion to international modern ideas inspired from the Bauhaus school in Germany.

It also seems to be somewhat of an exercise in style more than a personal contribution. The layout is less modern, and contemporary photos show a surprisingly traditional furnishing of his.

Soon enough he would develop a more personal and artistic touch and become a true master.

A Danish foundation, Realdania, bought the house in the 1980s, restored it and rent it out as a private residence.