Constructed in 1887 to designs by Frederik Bøttger, an architect who also worked for Arbejdernes Byggeforening, Overgaden Neden Vandet 17 was originally built for a charity as a public dining facility.

The owner resided in the building with his wife Elisabeth Christine Bohn, their two-year-old son Hendrich Kofoed Anker, the 49-year-old widow Margrethe Cathrine Ussing, her two daughters and three maids.

[4] Peter Petersen Holm, a ship carpenter, resided in the building with his wife Anne Cathrine Meyle, their five-year-old daughter, one maid, one caretaker and one lodger.

Gustav Adoph Muller, a teacher at the Army Cadet Academy, resided in the building with his wife Emilie Lorenza Maria Lorentzen and one maid.

[6] Jens Jacob Benedictsen (1806-1842), a merchant trading on Iceland, resided in the building with his wife Anna Marie Frahm, their four children (aged two to seven) and two maids.

Holger Peter Blauten, a clerk, resided on the ground floor with his wife Harriet Barbara (née Cook), their one-year-old twin sons Hans and Wilhelm, their visitor Lizzy Issott, a wet nurse and a maid.

Jørgen Lauritz Qvistgaard (1815-1896), a high-ranking civil servant in the Ministry of Naval Affairs with title of overkrigskommissær, resided on the ground floor with his housekeeper, Anna Lovisa Petterson.

[1] Overgaden Neden Vandet 17 is constructed in red brick on a foundation of granite ashlars with two storeys over a walk-out basement.

The seven-bays-wide facade is richly decorated with pattern brickwork, glazed details and other ornamental features.

The roof is clad in black slate and features four large dormer windows with carved woodwork towards the street.

[1] As one of Denmark’s leading non-profit art institutions focusing on emerging practices, O—Overgaden mounts an irreverent program of new local and international voices in contemporary art via around eight yearly grand-scale exhibitions and a breadth of concerts, parlors, performances, and film screenings—all with free admission to its spacious location in the heart of Copenhagen, on Christianshavn’s canal.

The majority of O—Overgaden’s program is based on its renowned Open Call, typically paving a way for young or yet unknown artists into the professional art world.

O—Overgaden has, since its founding in a former printing workshop in 1986, been an irreplaceable steppingstone for an array of artists—including Olafur Eliasson, Kirsten Justesen, Michael Elmgreen, Pia Arke, Adam Christensen, Lea Porsager, and Marie Lund—and the interest is only growing.

For almost 40 years, O—Overgaden—as one of the few established art institutions in Denmark focused on young artists—has been dedicated to providing artists from all regions the possibility to experiment, develop, and unfold their ideas and practice on a grand scale, producing what, for most, would be the first grand-scale institutional solo show.

O—Overgaden’s board currently consists of Sanne Kofod Olsen, chair (January 2024 – December 2028), Vice-Chancellor at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm; Rasmus Myrup (April 2023 – March 2028), visual artist; Lea Porsager (April 2023 – March 2028), visual artist; Ebbe Stub Wittrup (December 2019 – November 2024), visual artist; Matias Møl Dalsgaard (December 2019 – November 2024), CEO, GoMore; Helle Brøns (August 2020 – July 2025), curator, Sorø Art Museum; and Ieben Christensen (April 2022 – March 2027), lawyer, M/S2 Holden Aps.