Nyhavn 20
Nyhavn 20, also known as the Boel House, is a listed property overlooking the Nyhavn canal in central Copenhagen, Denmark. A plaque on the facade commemorates that Hans Christian Andersen lived in the building when he had his first fairy tale published.
History
Early history
The site was formerly part of Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve's large property at the corner of Kongens Nytorv and Nyhavn. In Copenhagen's first cadastre from 1689 it was listed as No. 54 in St. Ann's East Quarter. On 5 January 1700, Gyldenløve ceded the property to dowager queen Charlotte Amalie. A narrow strip of land along the canal, from Charlottenborg to Møntgade, was used for the construction of a row of very small, identical houses for low-ranking officials at the dowager queen's court. The houses were given numbers from 3 to 22.In the new cadastre of 1756, No. 1922 were listed as No. 292295 in St. Ann's East Quarter.
By royal resolution on 3 February 1770, it was decided to sell the houses at auction. The aim was to have them replaced by taller buildings that matched the houses on the other side of the canal and were more suitable for a location next to Kongens Nytorv. In conjunction with the sale, it was decided to widen the very narrow street along the canal. The properties were instead expanded with a strip of Charlottenborg gardens. The auction took place on 24 March 1770.
Bodenhoff family
At the auction, No. 1218 were all sold to merchant Andreas Bodenhoff. The building now known as Nyhavn 20 was constructed for him in 1778–68. He lived at Nyhavn 31 on the other side of the canal and had previously also built Nyhavn 12. The building was probably constructed by carpenter timber Samuel Blichfeldt.After Bodenhoff's death in 1894, his son Andreas Bodenhoff Jr. took over the building as well as his father's timber business. When his brother, Rasmus Bodenhoff died in 1795, he also took over the family's shipyard in Christianshavn. He married the daughter of his mother's sister, Gjertrud Birgitte Rosted. Just five months after the wedding, Andreas Bodenhoff Jr. fell ill and died. Gjertrud Bodenhoff, who at just 19 years old had become the richest widow in the city, lived in the building. She was popular among the poor for her philanthropic work among them. In 1798, she died under suspicious circumstances. It is believed that she was mistankingly assumed dead, and then buried alive, only to woken up and then murdered by tomb raiders.
18001880
From 1 September 1834, Hans Christian Andersen was a lodger on the second floor, renting two rooms from Karen Sophie Larsen who was the widow of a skipper. Andersen's sleeping room faced the courtyard and the Botanical Garden which was then located in Charlottenborg's garden, while his combined living room and study faced the canal. In a letter to Henriette Hanck from 1 January 1835, on her request, Andersen made a detailed description of his home at Nyhavn 20.Andersen wrote his first fairy tales while living in the building. They were published in May 1835. The small booklet contained the stories "The Tinderbox", "Little Claus and Big Claus", "The Princess and the Pea" and "Little Ida's Flowers". He published a total of six booklets, with Fairy Tales Told for Children in the period 1835–1842, followed by New Fairytales published in the period 1843–1848. Andersen also wrote the novels O.T. and Kun en Spillemand, and completed The Improvisatore while he lived at Nyhavn 20. In his diary, he describes an episode where he suddenly felt cold while working on The Improvisator. When he opened the door to the neighbouring room, he found that his landlady and the maid had opened the windows and poured water on the floor, so that her four children could slide on it when the water froze. On 1 December 1838, Andersen had grown so tired of the conditions that he moved to Hotel du Nord which was located at the site where the Magasin du Nord department store lies today.
The painter Wilhelm Marstrand was a resident in the building in 1843–44. His next home was located at Frederiksholms Kanal 12. The medical doctor C. E. Fenger lived in the building right after he had become a professor in Chinese medicine at the University of Copenhagen.