Holmblad House
The Holmblad House, now also known as Sølvgården, is a former 18th-century dyeing facility at Sølvgade 38 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Its founder, Jacob Holmblad, also had his home in the complex. The building was listed by the Danish Heritage Agency in the Danish national registry of protected buildings in 1918.
History
Jacob Holmblad was born in 1736 in Sweden, the son of Lars Holm who was farrier at Tjolöholm Castle. He completed an apprenticeship as dyer and emigrated to Denmark in about 1766. He was soon employed at the Royal Textile Manufactury in Rigensgade where he introduced new production methods at the Garrison Hospital. He used Rubia plants to produce the red dye for the Royal Life Guards' gala uniforms. In 1775 he obtained a royal license to set up his own dye factory. It was built in Sølvgade in Sølvgade, around the corner from where he had until then worked.The company later moved to the corner of Gothersgade and Regnegade. The enterprise was later taken over by his son, Lauridz Holmblad, who also founded a soap factory in 1805 and started Denmark's first real production of paint in 1819. L. P. Holmblad's father Jacob Holmblad inherited the soap factory in 1827 while his uncle Carl Frederik Holmblad took over the paint factory, the later Sadolin & Holmblad.
Later residents in the house in Sølvgade include Christian Thorning Engelstoft who lived there in the 1830s. He later became Bishop of the Diocese of Funen as well as Minister of Education in 1860. The composer Niels W. Gade lived in the house in 1856–57.