Kronprinsensgade 7, Copenhagen, 1807

Kronprinsensgade 7 was built between 1805 and 1807 by the architect Peder Friis as the lodge of the Copenhagen Freemasons, and from 1869 to 1932 it was the guild house of the Danish craftsmen’s association, who had its grand hall painted by Otto Schondel in 1873. It is a listed heritage building, the Danish equivalent of a historic landmark, and since 2019 it has been the subject of a restoration of rare thoroughness, carried on by its owner COPI Group since 2023: facades repaired on the evidence of building archaeology and traditional classical craft, the stairwell’s coffered ceilings, marbled walls, black lacquered steps and grained balusters recreated by conservators and master painters, the grand hall returned from a later coat of black toward its original light scheme, and the original sequence of rooms reinstated throughout. When Emerson Bailey took the first floor in June 2024 the work was midway: bare walls that could not be touched, construction lighting, and two centuries of proportion.

Into rooms that were still a construction site, Emerson Bailey brought a complete interior for the first floor: the 215 square metre main hall, the street rooms and the lounge, curated and installed to the building’s own proportions. The curation put distinct moments of Scandinavian design history in dialogue, from the Age of Enlightenment through the Swedish Grace movement to mid century modernity and contemporary minimalism: a sofa table made from the floorboards of a sixteenth century Swedish church, an eighteenth century Baroque cabinet and a Gustavian sofa beside an Arne Vodder armchair, a newly launched mouth blown pendant by Sekt, Folke Bensow’s cast iron table relaunched by Näfveqvarn, hand woven rugs by Cappelen Dimyr and brass fixtures by TONI Copenhagen, all resolved without a single fixing in the historic walls. Behind it all is the conviction that runs through everything Emerson Bailey does: that historic and contemporary design belong side by side.

The rooms were open to the public as Centuries during 3 Days of Design 2024.

Curation and installation: Emerson Bailey. Photography: Fanny Radvik. Building photography: MITVUE, courtesy of COPI Group.