Mechanicus Kretz' House


Mechanicus Kretz' House is located at Store Kongensgade 67 in central Copenhagen, Denmark. The complex consists of a residential building fronting the street from the 1930s and two older rear wings. They were all listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 23 May 1973.

History

The building takes its name after mechanicus Peter Johannes Kretz. He attended the Building School of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts where he won the small silver medal in 1797 and the large silver medal in 1798. He unsuccessfully competed for the gold medal in 1900 and worked as a joiner from 1801. He married Maria Genoveva Blankensteiner on 18 February 1808 in St. Ansgar's Church and she bore him 11 children. Kretz acquired the site at Store Kongensgade 67 in 1828 and as of that year worked with construction of machines. He constructed the current building fronting the street in 1836-1838. The family lived in the ground floor and he lived there until his death in 1851. The apartments on the other floors were let out. Count W. C. E. von Sponneck was a tenant in 1842-844. Pastor Andresen operated a private school from the buildings in the courtyard ifrom 1871 to 1891.
The building was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places by the Danish Heritage Agency on 23 May 1973.

Architecture

The building fronting the street consists of four storeys and a cellar and is eight bays wide. It represents the transition from Neoclassical to the Late Classical period. The profiled frames around the windows and the arched shop windows are characteristic of the latter period. A gateway opens to the first of two successive courtyards. Two side wings project from the rear side of the building along the north and south side of the first courtyard. A two-storey building with exposed timber framing separates the two courtyards. Another two-storey building runs along the north side of the second courtyard.

Today

The building fronting the street contains apartments )ejerlejligheder). A law firm,Advokaterne Fabritius Tengnagel & Heine, os based in the rear wing at Store Kongensgade 67C.