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Desks and filing cabinets made of solid pinewood and benches or chairs made
of stained beechwood. In the main construction and the slats on the back, they
are inspired by the traditional Danish Brotterup-chair. The tabletops are covered
with green linoleum surrounded by screwed-on strips, and the chairs are
upholstered with corduroy.
Karlsen emphasises that all the details were given full consideration to be proof
against wear and tear. The outer edges of the filing cabinets are furnished with a
powerful rounded profile »which partly resists bumps and blows, and partly
makes it easier to place the elements closely together on an uneven floor, thereby
avoiding that want of precision leaps to the eye«, he explains.
The discreet embellishments adorn the horizontal surfaces of the furniture and
also the panels of the doors, which at the same time constituted a simplification
for the cabinet makers when it came to fitting the corners.
The bookcases are divided into lower and upper parts, which eases moving the
furniture round the building considerably, and the cabinets are raised on low
trestles partly to facilitate the cleaning of the plain linoleum floors, and partly to
give a more comfortable height when fetching stuff from the lower placed
archives and files.
Nyrop’s furniture is extremely unostentatious and most carefully shaped in
accordance with the character and function of the various rooms.
This also goes for the large faience sinks accessible in the corridors like
sanitary springs of refreshing water. They are fitted with golden brass taps and
tiles on the walls behind to catch splashing from floor cloths and buckets. And
Nyrop’s motto of »Save not, waste not« is marked on the upper edge of all the
sinks in the offices.
Obviously all sources of light are electric and date from a very early stage in
the history of the glow lamp. The bulbs hang in clusters underneath a decorated
iron or brass bowl, and in order to prevent a glaring light from the table lamps,
short silk curtains of a kind are hung from the edge of the bowls. This type of
precaution is not taken with the high-hanging unshaded lamps in the Main Hall
and the meetings rooms of the City Council. This was twenty years before Poul
Henningsen invented his internationally known and acclaimed anti-dazzle PH-lamp.
Throughout the building there are adjustable hanging lamps and brass floor
lamps placed conveniently for reading and writing, all with cone-shaped white
and green glass or porcelain shades. Altogether the City Hall contains between
1,500 and 2,000 electric lamp units for illumination of the marvellous rooms.
Added to this, daylight comes from without and is reflected on the arches of
the stairs and filtered through other curves and surfaces. As an architectural
feature perhaps even more important than decoration and pictorial imagination,
the building is formed in accordance with light and dark like a medieval castle.
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