It runs from Kattesundet-Hestemøllestræde in the northeast to Vester Voldgade in the west, linking Slutterigade and Nytorv and at Regnbuepladsen and Copenhagen City Hall in the southwest.

It from the area close to the city's central square Gammeltorv to the Gyldenløve Bastion of the West Rampart which followed present-day Vester Voldgade.

The name of the street probably refers to the lavender that grew in a small group of herb gardens located next to the rampart.

Its buildings were rebuilt over the next few years, and a new combined townhall and courthouse was built at its beginning, fronting Nytorv.

[1] Constanze Mozart lived in the corner apartment on first floor in the years 1812–1820 with her second husband, the Danish diplomat Georg Nicolaus Nissen.