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On the front of the canopy cthe roses in Dana’s garden bloom and cthe spotless
starling sings prettily while underneath the coat of arms of the city ‘lions are
r ampan t and ‘hearts are on fire’ in the national coat of arms, thus proving the
inspiration from many varions literary quotes.
(From A. Wassard’s memoirs »Det sode og det sure« from 1986)
COMPETITIONS AND CONTEMPORARY TASTE
Qüaint and quirky designs
At the time of construction and the period following it, it was the narrative
element in the completeness of the City Hall that was weighed and discussed and
evaluated, and not merely the apothegms and dates on the walls, bu t the entire
narrative picture book of ornamentation and architectural details.
Indeed, any monumental building can be considered a narrative, but the way
the story is told differs immensely. This fact left its mark on the discussion of
which project and which style were to win favour in the competition about who
should be given the honour of solving the assignment of constructing the City
Hall of Copenhagen, a major assignment by the standards of the time.
Right from the beginning Martin Nyrop was quite certain as to the track he
wanted to follow concerning the essential features of the internal dispositions
and the proportions in relation to the surrounding city. The basic structure and
form of the building were decided on almost from the very first draft. The
smooth outer walls, the slanting roof and square merlons were rather unostentatious
compared to other more elaborate suggestions. And where other competitors
placed the tower in line with the middle of the front facing the square, or on the
façade facing Tivoli, Nyrop’s tower was at a very early stage situated near the old
town. This disposition was meant as a landmark for the modern times outside
the old ramparts, with the City Hall Square as the future centre of activities for a
coming range of Social-Democratic mayors and radical opinions from Politikens
Hus across the square, the liberal national newspaper that functioned as the only
real competitor to the conservative paper Berlingske Tidende.
Internally Nyrop’s building was determined early on by the Banqueting Hall
facing the square and the meeting rooms of the City Council being placed in the
middle between the glass-roofed Main Hall and the garden court surrounded by
four wings of offices. Consequently this led to criticism of the fact that the internal
staircases lay far from the entrance and that the sketched Banqueting Hall
became more elongated than was architecturally common.
Titular Councillor of State Ferdinand Meldahl, Copenhagen architect and city
planner, took the lead in the criticism of the City Hall. Both he and Nyrop were
members of the Copenhagen City Council, and ultimately the fight was overall
about a Conservative versus a Social Liberal ideology manifesting itself in
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