Kastrup Værk was founded around 1750 by Jacob Fortling, a German sculptor who had emigrated to Denmark in 1729 and established a successful career as Royal Master Builder in Copenhagen.

As one of several operators, he was granted rights to extract limestone on Saltholm, a smaller island in Øresund otherwise mainly used for summer grazing, and built an extensive complex of buildings between 1749 and 1753.

Constructed on reclaimed land, it included a lime plant, a tile works and a faience factory as well as a main building and gate houses.

[1] When Fortling died in 1761, his widow sold the plant to Jess Didrichsen, father of Danish-Norwegian writer Christiane Koren.

The masterplan for the area has been made by the architectural firm of schmidt hammer lassen.