Åboulevarden – Danske Bank | Aarhus – Denmark
In the heart of Aarhus, along the boulevard that runs alongside the Aarhus Å river, the building at Åboulevarden 69 is one of the city's most representative examples of historic eclectic architecture. Built between 1910 and 1912 to designs by architects Eggert Christoffer Achen and Thorkel Møller for the Ny Jydske Kjøbstad-Creditforening (New Jutland Market Town Credit Union), the structure is listed as Class 2 in Aarhus Municipality's register of protected buildings. The building has been dedicated to the world of finance since its inception: following successive mergers, the credit union became part of Realkredit Danmark and subsequently the home of Danske Bank's financial centre and regional headquarters
The architectural style is a sophisticated blend of English Baroque, Classicism and Art Nouveau: the red brick façade with granite detailing, granite staircases and the building’s position set back some 10 metres from the street lend it an austere and refined grandeur. In the gable bays of the lateral sections, granite slabs bear the engraved names of Jutland market towns a tribute to the regional vocation of the institution that commissioned it. Fine materials chosen with care that grow more beautiful as they patinate over time: a quality that aligns the building’s constructive philosophy with that of the GSI Ceramica sanitaryware installed within it. In 1984, the firm Kjær & Richter designed a new wing in red brick on a white timber structure; the building underwent a further renovation in 1996.
Year
1910-1912 (construction) / 1984 (Kjær & Richter wing) / 1996 (renovation)
Original Architects
Eggert Christoffer Achen and Thorkel Møller
1984 Wing Studio
Kjær & Richter
