Jørgen Hansen Koch

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

Jørgen Hansen Koch (4 September 1787 – 30 January 1860) was a Neoclassical Danish architect. He was chief of the national Danish building administration from 1835 and director of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1844 to 1849.

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.

Early life and education

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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

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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 (1827–1828) and Bernstorff's Mansion [da] (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.

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

Jørgen Koch was married to Ida Koch née Wulff, 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 naval officer who reached the rank of vice admiral.

Bust by H. W. Bissen, 1835

Jørgen and Ida Koch belonged to Hans Christian Andersen's social circle. 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]

Herman Wilhelm Bissen created a portrait bust of him in 1835.

Jørgen Hansen Koch died on 30 January 1860 in Copenhagen and is buried in the city's Vestre Cemetery.

Selected works

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

Extensions, adaptions and refurbishments

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Sæby Church

Unrealized projects

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  • Theater and yard (1824)
  • Hellerupgård, veranda (1825)
  • Warehouse (1827)
  • Manor and stable (1829)
  • City hall (awarded, 1833)
  • Thorvaldsen's Museum (1839, competition submission)
  • More designs for pavilions (1842 and undated)
  • Main building (1850)
  • Designs for prisons and jails (1840)
  • Furniture; royal sarcophagus (1850)

Other works

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Burial monuments

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Written works

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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Jørgen Koch". Bertel Thorvaldsens Brevarkiv. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  2. ^ a b c "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.
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Cultural offices
Preceded by Director of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts
1844–1849 		Succeeded by
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