Thomas Havning graduated from the secondary school Borgerdydskolen in Copenhagen in 1909 and was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in September 1909 from where he graduated with a degree in architecture in 1917. He was subsequently employed by Poul Holsøe and Jesper Tvede 1912-14 and by Hack Kampmann 1916]-19. From 1920 to 1963 he was the advising architect for the Danish Ministry for Education and from 1944 to 1961 he was royal building inspector. Havning won the C. F. Hansen Medal in 1914 and the Eckersberg Medal in 1935. He received awards from Copenhagen Municipality in 1921, 1935, 1944 and 1951. Havning was a member of the Censorship Committee at Charlottenborg in 1920-23, 1927–36 and 1941, member of the board of the Architects' Association of Denmark 1918-23 and 1936–40, Vice Chairman in 1937-40 and Chairman in 1942-46. He received the Architects' Association's Honorary Medal in 1961. Thomas Havning was a member of the Association for the Preservation of Old Buildings from 1937, Det Kongelige Akademi for de Skønne Kunster from 1940 to 1952, of Boligtilsynsrådet from 1940-1950, the parish council of Vor Frelsers Sogns 1922-34, of Det Særlige Kirkesyn for churches on Bornholm and in Ribe, Haderslev, Tønder and Løgumkloster.
Style
Thomas Havning grew up in a family with solid traditions in the arts and crafts; he had family relations to the composer Thomas Laub and the architect Martin Nyrop. Havning's involvement with Holsøes and Tvedes architect's practice also informed his style. Combined these factors gave Havning a simple, Danish-inspired Functionalist style focused on brick as the primary material. The project which best shows his style is Havning's own house for which he received the Eckersberg Medal in 1935. the Customs- and Quarantine Building, in Copenhagen Frihavn and the Institute for the Blind on Østerbro in Copenhagen. Between 1918 and 1933 Havning participated in a number of contests for church designs beginning with St. Luke's Church in Aarhus in 1918. He designed Allehelgens Church 1924-25, Lindevang Church and St. Mark's Church in Aarhus. The common element for Havning's church designs was a mix of Neo-Baroque architecture and Nicolai Eigtved's Rococo style. Havning's best known work from the later, modernistic period is Tjæreborg, a building for Tobacco Taxation, in Slotsholmsgade, Copenhagen. Although the copper-clad modernistic building is both elegant and adjusted for its surroundings its uncharacteristic for Havning's work where brick is usually the norm. Havning died 20 February 1976 in Viborg and is buried on Holmens Cemetery.
