Usserød Textile Factory ( Danish: Usserød Klædefabrik) is a listed, 19th-century industrial complex at

Usserød Å Usserød Å, the principal drainage of Sjælsø, Sjælsø Lake. is a stream in North Zealand to the north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is approximately 9 kilometres long, drops 18 metres and is joined by Donse Å before itself flowing into Nive Å o ...

in the Usserød district of

Hørsholm Hørsholm () is an urban area on the Øresund coast approximately north of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers most of Hørsholm Municipality and straddles the borders neighbouring Fredensborg Municipality and Rudersdal Municipality. Hørsholm proper ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It was from 1802 home to the Royal Military Textile Factory (Danish: Den Kongelige Militære Klædefabrik) which remained in use until 1981. The buildings have now been renovated and are now used as a business park.

History

The first

textile mill Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

at the site was established by a private consortium in 1791. They had previously unsuccessfully applied for a royal license to build a textile mill on

Mølleåen Mølleåen, also Mølleå, sometimes translated as the Millstream, is a small river in North Zealand, Denmark, which runs from the west of Bastrup Sø near Lynge to the Øresund between Taarbæk and Skodsborg. The valley contains several coun ...

. In 1802 it was taken over by the state and from 1809 used for manufacturing textiles for military uniforms. From 1815, it completely replaced the Royal Military Textile Manufactury on Rigensgade in Copenhagen which was converted into a new garrison hospital. When the production peaked in 1814, Usserød Textile Mill produced more than 90,000 metres of textiles and employed 700 workers half of which were children. The Danish military began to move its textile production to Ryvangen Barracks in the 1970s and the factory in Usserød closed in 1981. The buildings were left empty until they were sold to Jakob and Erik B. Lyngsø in 1985. The architect Jørgen Raaschou-Nielsen was subsequently responsible for a renovation which received the Europa Nostra Award in 1987,

Architecture

The three-winged Late Neoclassical main building surrounds a central courtyard in a style remniscient of a Baroque-style manor house although it lacks its symmetry. The three wings date from 1803, 1860 and 1950 respectively. The central Spinnery Wing is decorated with a triangular pediment. Two buildings are found to the north of the main building. One of them is from 1888 and used to serve as a combined machine and boilerhouse. It stands in blank, red brick walls with arched windows and a roof with Polonceau trues. The other one is from 1939 and was used for weawing and cutting of textiles. To the east of the main building stands the Dyeing Building from 1889. It is a yellow K-shaped brick building with

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

and licenes in grey cement. Ut has a barrelvaulted roof supported by cast iron pillars. To the west of the main building stands two attached buildings (1868 og 1864). The building to the south of the main building ("Forbygningen"), on the other side of Fabriksvej, is from 1865.

Today

A number of companies are now based in the buildings. The property also comprises 8.5 hectares of park and woodland that is open to the public.

References

External links

Official website

Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usserod Textile Factory Defunct textile companies of Denmark Listed buildings and structures in Hørsholm Municipality Listed industrial buildings in Copenhagen Textile mills in Denmark Danish companies established in 1791