The Sigvert Grubbe House (Danish: Sivgert Grubbes Gård) is a Renaissance style townhouse situated at Strandgade 28 in the Chrstianshavn neighborhood of central Copenhagen, Denmark. The property comprises the building at Wildersgade 41 on the other side of the block as well as a half-timbered building separating two central courtyards from each other. The apartment on the first floor features a number of murals attributed to Nicolai Abildgaard. The entire complex was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1918. It takes its name after its first owner, Sigbert Grubbe, a favourite of ChristianIV. It was later owned by Jacob Benjamin Italiaender, a Sphardi Jew, who established a tobacco manufactory as well as a private sunagogue in the yard. The painter Peder Severin Krøyer grew up in the building in the 1860s.
History
17th and early 18th centuries
The present building on the site was constructed in the 1620s. It was part of a row of three identical townhouses. The two others were later merged into what is now Strandgade 26. The first owner was (1566-1636). He had escorted a young Christian IV on his journey to the North Cape. He later also escorted him on a number of other journeys. He was rewarded with a number of royal fiefs, including Jungshoved on Zealand and Malmøhus, Lundegård, Dalby Kloster and Højby in Scania.
Grubbe's former property in Strandgade was listed as No. 21 in Copenhagen's first cadastre of 1689. It was at that time owned by brewer Peter Vinberg.
The property was owned by brewer from 1723 to 1728. He was also strongly involved in the Danish West Indies Company, both as a merchant and as the bookkeeper of the company. In 1733, he was appointed as governor of Saint Thomas in the Danish West Indies. , who served as director of the Danish West Indies Company, has also been a resident of the building.
Jacob Italiener Benjamin & Gebroders, 17491828
On 20 December 1745, No. 21 was acquired by Jacob Italiaender. Born in around 1704 in Amsterdam, he came from a Sephardi Jewush family of tobacco manufacturers. His parents were Benjamin Italiaender and Judith Gitche Jacob Littau. On 27 September 1727, he was married to his cousin Mariana Isaac Italiaender.They moved to Copenhagen in around 1743. On 14 November, he was under the company name Jacob Italiener Benjamin & Gebroders granted a royal privilege to establish a tobacco factory in Christianshavn and Aalborg. The branch in Christianshavn opened the same year and was initially located in Langebrogade. The one in Aalborg did not open until around 1759 and had closed again before 1773. Tax records seem to indicate that he remained a resident of his old property in Langebrogade until 1749. His property in Strandgade was listed as No. 38 in the new cadastre of 1756. Italiaender established a private synagogue on his property. It is believed that it was located in a building on the rear with access from Kongensgade (now Wildersgade).
The faith of Jacob Italiaender and his wife is uncertain. No burial place is thus recorded at the Jewish Cemetery in Copenhagen or in Amsterdam. The property in Strandgade was some time between 1762 and 1785 passed to Mordechai Jacob Italiaender. Born in around 1736 at Nijkerk. he was the son of Jacob Mordechai Italiaender and Rebecca Benjamin Italiaender. He was married to his cousin Reina Abraham Italiaender (born 26 December 1734). daughter of Abraham Benjamin Italiaender and Anna Hindele Isaac Italiaender and sister of Benjamin Italiaender.
Mordechay Italiaender resided on his property with eight other people at the 1787 census. The other residents were his wife Reina Italiaender, their sons Jacob and Abraham Italiaender, his sister Rachel Italiaender, his niece Rabeca Moresco, bookkeeper Isaac Wessely floor clerk Martha Moses and one maid.
The 64-year-old Mordechay Italiender had become a widower by the 1801 census. He lived in the building with his two sons Jacob and Abraham, their wives, Jacob's one-year-old daughter Amalie and two maids. The property was listed as No. 44 in the new cadastre of 1806. It was at that time owned by Jacob Italiaender. His brother Abraham Italiaender resided in the building until his death in 1827.
Mortensen family, 1830s1910s
On 4 August 1828, Jacob Italiener Benjamin & Gebroders sold the property to the king. The property was later sold to a haulier named Mortensen. It was after his death passed to his wife Marie Christine Mortensen. She continued the family's transport business until their eldest son was old enough to take over the operations. The painter Frederik Sødring (1809-1862) was a resident of the building in around 1839.