Vesterbro Pharmacy


Vesterbro Pharmacy Danish: Vesterbro Apotek) operated from 1795 to 1992 in the Vesterbro district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Its former buildings on Vesterbrogade, a building facing the street and two buildings in the courtyard on the rear, all three dating from the second half of the 19th century, were listed in 1972.
Two other, still active pharmacies are found in the Vesterbro area. One of them, Steno Apotek, is located on the same street Vesterbrogade 6C, across the street from Copenhagen Central Station. The other, Enghave Apotek, is located on Enghavevej at Enghave Plads.

History

The first building

The pharmacy was founded on 17 January 1795 by the chemist Johan Gottlieb Blau. It was then located on the other side of Vesterbrogade, approximately where Oehnschlægergade runs today. Blau later also opened Gammeltorv Pharmacy next to the city hall on the corner of Nytorv and Frederiksborggade.

The second building

The pharmacy moved to its current site in 1826. A new building was constructed there in 1854 to design by Peter Heinrich Christoph Hagemann. It was later expanded with a laboratory building to the rear by Peter Christian Bønecke in 1884. The pharmacy was for a while known as Ørne Apotek.
The building was listed in 1971. The pharmacy closed on 29 February 1992.

Current use

The owners of the high-profile cocktail bar Ruby on Gammel Strand opened the cocktail bar Lidkoeb in the former laboratory in the courtyard building in November 2012.
The ground floor of the building facing the street was converted into a Halifax burger restaurant in 2014-15. The transformation was undertaken by Over Byen Arkitekter.

List of chemists

The chemists were: