The White Mansion Marker 10.

Lyngby

Look at the mansion's north gable to the left of the stairs. There is a cannon ball in the wall that is believed to have been there since the war with the British in 1807. In front of the iron fence is a milestone from 1839 made of Bornholm granite, indicating 1½ mil (Danish miles, approx. 10 km) to Copenhagen.

The mansion is built in classic style with four great pilasters and other decorations on the facade towards the main street. When the mansion was built, there were already houses on Kongevejen to the north pf the house. No. 33 was built in 1782 and the still-existing No. 35 was built in 1788. But there were no settlements south of the mansion until Bagergården (Baker Farm) (No. 49). The buildings on the other side of the road ended to the south with watchmaker Johan Loews house (No. 64, built 1794). No. 62 was "Bomhuset" (the Gatehouse) which David Moyel also owned. (Painting the Town Archives of Lyngby seen from Fortunen around 1820 with the White Palace on the left).

Bomhuset was really the predecessor of the White Mansion. It was built in 1767 when the newly-built Kongevej was opened to the public, but with booms, where travellers had to pay a fee for road maintenance. South of Lyngby was a gate with a house for the gatekeeper. This house was turned into a small hobby farm, and more land was acquired on the east side of Kongevejen. The farm, which is still called Bomhuset, was purchased in 1804 by David Moyel who built the White Mansion at the eastern part of the property.

It was not uncommon for country houses to be rented out during the summer. The king and the nobility holding administrative offices built castles in North Sealand and wealthy citizens of Copenhagen built country houses of different sizes according to how rich they were. Sophienholm in Lyngby-Taarbæk is the largest and Bootee Cathrine's House is one of the smallest. Others could afford only to rent a country house, a small house or a just few rooms and most could not even afford a holiday. But any Copenhagen labourer or servant could negotiate an annual day off and on this day make a trip into the woods (mostly Dyrehavsbakken). This one annual holiday was the start of today's six-week vacation. A castle or an annual day off - it's the same tradition, the same longing to be away from the city, out into the wild. Many country houses were named after the developer or the owner's wife. Others had names that indicated that they were for holidays. Still others were named after their previous usage (Bomhuset, Fisherman's house, Hunter farm). They all had positive names that also could express idyll, such as Sorgenfri (Sorrow Free – named after Sans Souci, in France).

Country houses in connection to the old factories along Mølleåen (the Mill Stream) are a specialty of the Lyngby area. The oldest country houses are from the Rococo period, e.g. Frieboeshvile, Frederiksdal and Sorgenfri (1750s). Frieboeshvile and Ørholm Main Building both have a gable on the facade that are remnants from the previous Baroque style. But most rural places, like the White Mansion, were built or rebuilt in the classic style at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

The inhabitants of the estates and factory housing schemes were townspeople who, in contrast to the local people, did not like to be self-sufficient. They needed urban services in the form of merchants and craftsmen. They were only permitted to run their business in the cities and market towns (købstæder), but many obtained personal privileges from the county to establish themselves in Lyngby because there was a need for them in the area.

Thus, by the middle of the 18th century, Lyngby had already the characteristics of a city, even though the main street still resembled the main street in a provincial town.

Marker 11