Nybroegade 22/Magstræde 9 is a complex of historic buildings overlooking Slotsholmen Canal and Christiansborg in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It consists of a five-storey apartment building from the 1850s in Nybrogade and a four-storey building from 1755 on the other side of the block in Magstræde (No. 9, heightened in the 1850s), separated from each other by a small, cobbled courtyard. The entire complex was listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1945.
History
Origins
The site was formerly part of two properties. The eastern property was listed in Copenhagen's first cadastre of 1689 as No. 22 in Snaren's Quarter and belonged to skipper True Torkildsen. The western one was listed as No. 28 and belonged to assessor Hans Nielsen. The two properties were later merged into a single property. Adam Raben operated a successful soap manufactory on the site. The property was listed in the new cadastre of 1756 as No. 19 in Snaren's Quarter and belonged to his widow and business partners at that time. The property was known as Den Sorte Hane (The Bleck Cock).
The property belonged to the widow Anne Catrine Jørrensen at the 1787 census. She resided in the building with her two daughters (aged six and seven), a clerk (employee), two workers at the soap manufactory and one maid.
The property was later passed down to her son Georg Jørgensen. He resided in the building with two of his sisters (aged 21 and 22), a soap manufacturer, three other male servants and one maid at the time of the 1801 census. The only other resident of the building then was the lodger Friderich Ernst Frankenau, a secretary, who resided in the building with one maid.
Bech family
The just 20-year-old Jørgen Peter Bech (1782-1846) purchased the property in around 1802. He started out as a soap manufacturer but would later become a successful businessman with interests in shipping and general trading. Bech was granted citizenship as a merchant (grosserer) in 1806. He married on 23 January 1807 Ellen Sophie Magdalene Meyer (1784-1846). Her father, Jacob Albert Meyer, a grocer (urtekræmmer) and tea and porcelain merchant, had owned the property at Gammel Strand No. 13 (now Gammel Strand 44).
Bech was the maternal grandfather of the writer Wilhelm Bergsøe. Bergsøe often visited the house on Sundays and during holidays. He has written about his grandfather's home in Nybrogade in De forbistrede børn.
Bech purchased the adjacent properties No. 20 & No. 26 (now Nybrogade 24) in the 1719s and charged Thomas Blom with the construction of a new building for the site. The family moved to their new home at what is now Nybrogade 24 in 1816. The Black Cock was from then on only used as his firm's office and as residence his long-term employee Nyholm as well as the family's physician.
Later history
In 1952, No. 19 was duivided into No. 19A /now Nybrogade 22) and No. 19 (Snaregade). The present building in Nybrogade was constructed in 1852-1853 for decorative painter Carl Løffler (1810-1853). He already died from cholera on 28 July that same year as one of approximately 4,800 victims of the 1853 Copenhagen cholera outbreak. He is buried in Assistens Cemetery.
Nybrogade 22 was home to just 18 residents at the 1860 census.
