Kronprinsessegade 8, Copenhagen, 1803

Kronprinsessegade 8 stands on the street that borders the King’s Garden at Rosenborg Castle, built in 1803 by the architect Johan Martin Quist in the rebuilding of Copenhagen after the great fire. The composer C.E.F. Weyse lived here, and Hans Christian Andersen was a regular caller. It is a listed heritage building, the Danish equivalent of a historic landmark. COPI Group took over the property in 2023 and restored nearly all of it; the house is now the group’s headquarters, with the Michelin starred restaurant Alouette below. In June 2025 Emerson Bailey took the 267 square metre second floor apartment, a sequence of tall rooms looking toward the garden.

Across five rooms, a foyer, a work room, a living room, a dining room and a bedroom, Emerson Bailey composed a complete residence in which historic and contemporary design share one language of material, colour and proportion, and in which each room told its story through the senses as well as the eye: its own scent, its own music, and something to taste and drink chosen for that room. A pair of nineteenth century French witch stones, once set on castle rooftops to ward off dark forces, receive visitors in the foyer. In the living room an eighteenth century Swedish Rococo secretary meets a vintage Mario Bellini leather chair for Cassina, a Belgian sofa and Hadge Architects’ bevelled coffee tables beneath a porcelain mobile chandelier by Andrea Claire Studio. The dining room sets an important Gustavian centre table under a Gustavian Empire crystal chandelier, with an early eighteenth century daybed from Svartsjö Castle and Studio Khachatryan’s Corps Console II and HY [W] stool. The bedroom pairs a Hästens bed with a seventeenth century tapestry, a rare late Baroque Swedish armchair and cabinet, and Studio Khachatryan’s DY standing lamp and HY [B] stool. Lighting by Sekt, cast iron by Näfveqvarn, alpaca textiles by Sandra Jordan, finishes by TONI Copenhagen and works by Gust Romijn, Katrien Van Der Schueren, Arty Grimm, Miguel Ybañez and the photographer Björn Keller complete the rooms. In Susan Weiss’s words, the aim was “a residence that feels timeless, layered, and deeply personal, where every piece contributes to a story.”

The apartment was open to the public as Residence during 3 Days of Design 2025.

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