
Søllerød Town Hall ( da, Søllerød Rådhus), now renamed Rudersdal Town Hall, was built for the former
Søllerød Municipality which in 2007 became part of
Rudersdal Municipality, combining Søllerød and
Birkerød
Birkerød () is a town in Rudersdal Municipality in the northern outskirts of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is surrounded by several lakes and small woodlands. Birkerød station is located on the Hillerød radial of the S-train suburban network.
His ...
. The building is located in Holte some 19 km to the north of
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
's city centre. Designed by Danish architects
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen, Hon. FAIA () 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to architectural functionalism and for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple wel ...
and
Flemming Lassen
Flemming Lassen (23 February 1902 – 18 February 1984) was a Modernist Danish architect and designer, working within the idiom of the International Style. Among his most notable buildings are libraries and cultural centres. He was the brother of ...
, it was completed in 1942.
Architecture
Like his
Aarhus City Hall
Aarhus City Hall is the city hall of Aarhus, Denmark. The decision to build a new city hall was taken during a city hall meeting in 1937. The new building was inaugurated 2 June 1941, designed by architects Arne Jacobsen and Erik Møller. On the f ...
, Jacobsen's Søllerød Town Hall was inspired by the modernist Swedish architect
Gunnar Asplund
Erik Gunnar Asplund (22 September 1885 – 20 October 1940) was a Swedish architect, mostly known as a key representative of Nordic Classicism of the 1920s, and during the last decade of his life as a major proponent of the modernist style wh ...
, especially his
Functionalist extension to the City Hall in
Gothenburg which was completed in 1936.
The complex consists of two staggered buildings. The main entrance, made almost completely of glass, is located on the corner of the front building and is complemented by the four large windows of the lofty council chamber diagonally across the facade to the west. The building contains meeting rooms on the first floor. An extension, completed in 1964 and also designed by Jacobsen, contains three floors of offices. Standing further back, it is connected to the original building with a glass corridor. The complex is built in reinforced concrete, faced in marble from
Porsgrunn
is a city and municipality in Telemark in the county of Vestfold og Telemark in Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Grenland. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Porsgrunn.
The municipality of Porsgrunn wa ...
in Norway, with a copper-plated roof. The square windows are set flush to the outside. When it was opened in 1942, its chairs, desks, lamps and textiles were all designed by Arne Jacobsen. Examples can still be seen inside the building. Comprehensive restoration work was completed in 2003, taking full account of the original design and the materials used. In 1992, Søllerød Town Hall became the first building in Denmark built after 1900 to be given the status of a
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
.
[Christopher Woodward, ''Copenhagen'', 1998: Manchester University Press ND, p. 88. .]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sollerod Town Hall
Arne Jacobsen buildings
Listed buildings and structures in Rudersdal Municipality
Listed city and town halls in Denmark
Government buildings completed in 1942
Modernist architecture in Sweden
City and town halls in Denmark
1942 establishments in Denmark