Nicolai Eigtved - Royal Building Master

Royal Building Master

Thus began a lifelong rivalry with colleague Lauritz de Thurah, another Royal Building Master and the leading proponent of baroque architecture at the time. Eigtved became the king’s preferred architect, and Eigtved’s rococo style was the preferred building style. As a result de Thurah was often overlooked, while Eigtved got the best assignements.

He participated along with German architect Elias David Hausser and Lauritz de Thurah in the interior construction of Christiansborg Palace, with wood sculpting by Louis August le Clerc. de Thurah and Eigtved, for the most part, divided up the interior assignments. Eigtved designed the king’s apartments, the main staircase, the chapel’s interior, the riding grounds, and the Marble Bridge (Marmorbroen) and its two pavilions, and gave the castle it’s delicate Louis XIV style. Unfortunately, most of Eigtved’s accomplishments at Christiansborg were lost in the fire of 1794.

Hausser, who had been the original architect for the project, lost his influence as the younger de Thurah and Eigtved took on larger assignments in the castle project. In 1738 the king set up a royal buildings commission that would lead the continued work on the castle. The commission would be led by State Minister Count Johan Sigismund Schulin

At the same time Eigtved and de Thurah switched areas of responsibilities, where de Thurah gave up Copenhagen and the island of Zealand, in exchange for Eigtved’s Jutland Peninsula.

In 1742 Eigtved was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Engineer Corps, became a member of the Building Commission, and took over the role of leading architect for Christiansborg Palace from Hausser.

Eigtved designed and built, along with Boye Junge, The Prince's mansion in Frederiksholm's Canal, 1743-1744 for the Crown Prince Frederik V. The building is now the National Museum (Nationalmuseet).

At the same time he also designed a mansion for Schulin of the Building Commission in Frederiksdal.

On 24 May 1743 he married Sophie Christine Walther, chambermaid to Princess Louise, at Frederickborg Castle Chapel. They had seven children, but only three lived to adulthood.

Between 1744 and 1745, Eigtved built a small pavilion for Privy Councillor J.S. Schulin on the Furesø Lake called Frederiksdal Pavilion. Credited with being the earlier example of "maison de plaisance" in Denmark, "it jointly had large and small rooms symmetrically ordered around the main axis' vestibule and constervatory. The mansard roof is the result of an alteration carried out by J.G. Rosenberg in 1752-1753, who while working on Frederiksdal also built Margård on northwest Funen, also inspired by French country estates."