the Hirschsprung cigar shop on Gammeltorv
/The building on the west side of Gammeltorv, at the corner of Frederiksberggade, is under scaffolding and there is clearly a major restoration in progress.
The building, designed by the architect Johan Schrøder, dates from 1899 and has frontages to the square itself and to Frederikdberggade - although the street is better known as Strøget or The Walking Street.
Gammeltorv is a strange irregular shape with the building line on this side cutting back to the north-west corner so, although the building is more-easily described as L-shaped around two sides of an internal courtyard but, when seen from the air, the two ranges form a broad V shape.
In part for this reason, so to mask or disguise the angle, but also, presumably, because Schrøder understood the importance of the corner site, the corner of the building is rounded. That round shape is cut back in to form what is almost two-thirds of a rounded turret and that is emphasised with an order of attached pillars in dark stone at an upper level and by a prominent and ornate copper dome.
The main frontage is to the square with an elaborate stone doorway at the centre, with balconies above, but there is also a good frontage to Frederiksberggade and again with a central doorway but with a simpler surround with a pediment. These doorways gave access to apartments above but, from the start, there appear to have been shops on the ground floor to both the square and to the street.
The most important of these shops was at the corner with its entrance on the corner at the base of the turret. This was a cigar and tobacco shop owned by Hirschsprung & Sons and had a significant interior that was designed by Povl Baumann and Kaare Klint that was installed in 1916-1917.
That interior won an important City Architecture award in 1918 but very little survives … even internal walls have been removed to incorporate the space into adjoining shop units.
Will DESIGNGROUP Architects, responsible for the design work for renovation of the building, create something more appropriate with their refurbishment? They were the design team responsible for restoration of the building immediately opposite, on the other side of Frederiksberggade, so together these buildings form the entrance to the west part of Strøget and this could mark the start of a significant and overdue improvement to this section of what is a major street.
earlier post on the cigar shop June 2018
