Look to your left for the striking two-story pale brick building featuring a long row of tall windows and three distinct, decorative stepped gables along the roofline.
Welcome to Farvergården, the Dyer's Court! Let us check out your screen to see the older, single-story wing on Skomagergade, started back in seventeen sixty-six by Johan Jørgen Holst. He passed away before it was finished, leaving his widow Maren to complete the work.
But the real color of this place comes from Hans Poul Hammer. He bought the complex in eighteen thirty-nine to set up a massive fabric dyeing operation. Take a look at your phone again to see the impressive Ringstedgade facade. Hammer brought in master mason Matthias Vrock in the eighteen fifties to build this magnificent two-story addition just for his booming business.
Running a dye plant was a total family affair. After Hammer and his son passed away, the women took charge. Cathrine Hammer and her daughter Caroline kept the vibrant dyes flowing, with Caroline even quitting her teaching job in nineteen hundred to run their storefront in the older wing.
Can you imagine the close calls this beautiful complex has survived? In nineteen sixty-four, the city actually bought the property and planned to tear it all down just to widen the street! Thankfully, they abandoned that plan, fully restoring it in nineteen seventy-five instead.
If you want to check it out, the building is open Monday through Friday from eight AM to six PM, and Saturdays from nine AM to three PM.
It is wonderful to see such an incredible piece of local family history preserved so beautifully. Take your time enjoying the architecture, and when you are ready, we can wander over to our next destination.
