The entrance to department store Illum's multi-storey parking facility is also located in the street.

Created in 1620,[1] the street takes its name after the Silk Company (Silkecompagniet) which was founded at the initiative of Christian IV in 1618.

Some of the townhouses and a building in Pilestræde were then converted into a domus misericordiæ or central poorhouse.

It handed food and money out to the poor once a week and also functioned as an employment agency.

It also contained a Hackle Room (heglestue) which was used for preparation of flax that was handed out to the poor.

[3] In the middle of the 19th century, Poul Christian Tafdrup, a master tailor, operated a clothing retailer at No.

The architect Hans Conrad Stilling was subsequently charged with adapting the building for its new use as bank headquarters.