Amagertorv 1 is a Neoclassical property situated at the corner of Amagertorv and Højbro Plads, opposite Højbrohus, in the Old Town of Copenhagen, Denmark. Constructed in 1797 as part of the rebuilding of the city following the Copenhagen Fire of 1795, it owes its current appearance to a renovation undertaken by Christian Tybjerg in 1854. The building was listed in the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1989. Café Europa, a café started by fashion designer Jørgen Nørgaard in 1989, is located in the building. Notable former residents include photographer Emil Stæhr, landowner and district governor Nicolai Emanuel de Thygeson and composer and music publisher Andreas Peter Berggreen.
History
18th century
The site was in the late 17th century made up of two separate properties. The eastern of these properties was situated at the corner of the relatively narrow street Højbrostræde. It was listed as No. 62 in Strand Quarter in Copenhagen's first cadastre of 1689 and was at that time owned by one Gert Brask’ widow. The western property was as No. 61 owned by merchant (kræmmer) Jochum Snutom . The two properties were listed as No. 62 (old No. 61) and No. 63 (old No. 62) in the new cadastre of 1756. They were at that time owned by merchant (kræmmer) Johan Mathias Bruuns (No. 62) and merchant (kræmmer) Ludvig Vittrog (No. 63).
No. 62 had by 1787 passed to Bruuns' son Nicolay Ludwig Bruns. He lived in the building was his wife Mette Bruns, their two sons (aged 10 and 12), two employees (one of them an apprentice) and two maids.
Christian Stæhr and the new building
No. 63 was some time prior to the 1787 census acquired by merchant (hørkræmmer) Christian Stæhr (1749-1811). He resided in the building with his wife Anna Magretha Stæhr (née Lemming), their three children (aged two to nine), the wife's sister Charlotte Leming, a housekeeper (husjomfru), two employees in Stæhr's business, a maid and a lodger.
The two properties were destroyed in the Copenhagen Fire of 1795, together with most of the other buildings in the area. After the fire, Stæjr purchased the neighboring fire site at No 62 and merged it with his old property at No. 63, The current building on the site was constructed for him in 1796-97. The identity of the master builder is not known. After the fire, it was decided to replace the densely built-up block on the other side of Højbrostræde with a new square, Højbro Plads, which would act as a fire belt, a decision that gave his new property a much more visible location.
At the time of the 1801 census, Stæhr's building was home to a total of 31 residents in five households. Christian Stæhr resided in one of the apartments with his wife, three of theirchildren (aged nine to 20), his widow mother, an apprentice and two maids. The eldest daughter Charlotte, now married to August Wilhelm Heylmann, a silk and textile merchant, resided in another apartment with her husband, their two-year-old daughter, two employees in his textile business (one of them an apprentice), the stockings-maker Lauritz Salholt and another apprentice. Poul Marcussen (1763-1835), owner of Ørumgaard and Agersbøl in Jutland, resided in a third apartment with his wife Louise Elisabeth Henriette Marcussen (née Saabue, 1777-1858), the wife's sister Christine (née Saabye, sister of Gans Rudolph Saabye, one male servant, Nicolai Emanuel Thygesen (district judge for Zealand and Møn) and Thygesen's servant. Christian Henne Frantz, a tea merchant, resided in the building with Anna Welde. Sophia Ramløse (née Frantz), a widow, resided in the building with her two children (aged five and seven), a maid and the visitor(lodger Paul Stenstrup.
The property was listed as No. 50 in the new cadastre of 1806. Stæhr's business was after his death in 1811 passed to his son Hans Jørgen Stæhr (1785-1852). Hans Jørgen Stæjr was still residing in the building on Amagertorv when his youngest daughter Thora Hansine Stæjr was born in 1828. He and his family had by 1780 moved out of the building on Amagertorv. They were at that time residing in a first floor apartment at No. 85 in St. Ann's West Quarter (now Hindegade 9). The son Emil Stæhr (1827-1912) would later become a photographer. Thora Hansine Stæhr was the mother of composer Sophus Andersen. Her elder sister Wilhelmine Marie Stæhr was the mother of the author and marine painter Holger Drachmann.