Overgaden Oven Vandet 50 is a residential property in the Christianshavn neighborhood of central Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of three properties along Christianshavn Canal that were built by anchor smith Hans Caspersen and are now all known as the Hans Caspersen House, the others being Overgaden Neden Vandet 39 and Overgaden Neden Vandet 33. The building was completed in 1769 and listed on the Danish registry of protected buildings and places in 1945.
History
Earlier building The property on the site was listed as No. 97 in Christianshavn Quarter in Copenhagen's first cadastre of 1689. It was at that time owned by ropemaker Verner Wesenduncks (Wesendonch). His house was located in Dronningensgade on the other side of the block. The lot was in 1718 acquired by timber merchant Niels Flesborg (c. 1695-1720s) and used as a lumberyard. The lumberyard was in 1720 ceded to timber merchant and captain Hans Brechvoldt. He had just married Flesborg 's daughter Martha. Brechvoldt and a brother-in-law died in 1744, probably from drowning, leaving Martha Nielsdatter Flesborg Brechtwoldt as the owner of the lumberyard. In 1749, she sold the property to brewer Peder Nielsen Trye (Trie) Friis. Friis' property was listed as No. 177 in the new cadastre of 1756.
On 31 July 1755, Friis' property was sold at auction to John Brown for 4,241 rigsdaler. Brown was only interested in suitable storage facilities for his wholesale business. On 22 December he therefore sold the western part of the property with the residential building (later referred to as No. 177A) to dyer Andreas Hegelund for 2,500 rigsdaler. The rest of the transaction was financed through a loan from Brown's father-in-law Peter Appleby. Hegelund's house is in a fire insurance policy from January 1756 described as a two-storey, timber-framed building constructed on a brick cellar. It was via a staircase in oak timber attached to a three-bays-long and three-storeys-tall side wing with kitchen and workshop. A combined wagonhouse and stable with room for three horses was situated on the rear of the property towards Dronningensgade. Andreas Hegelund's widow Elisabeth Sophie married Gottfried August Neukammer.
Hans Caspersen and the new building
On 25 June 1765, Neukammer sold the property to anchor smith Hans Caspersen. Caspersen's old property at Overgaden Neden Vandet 39 had recently been destroyed by fire. He demolished the existing buildings and constructed a new four-storey apartment building on the land in the 1760s. Hans Caspersen sold the property to Oluf Munch shortly after its completion but seems to have kept an apartment in the building. He lived there until 1782 when he returned to his other property at Overgaden Neden Vandet 39.
Bishop and Malcolm and Ogilvie In 1778, Overgaden Oven Vandet 50 was sold to the Scottish ship captain Arthur Bishop (c. 1742). He had acquired citizenship in Copenhagen in 1771. In the same year, he captained the frigate Minerva on a voyage to the Danish West Indies. In 1782, he captained Cronborg on a voyage to Tranquebar. He was married to Alison Bishop. After his death, she married secondly to Alexander Malcolm, a sailing master born at Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He died no later than 1801. Alison Malcolm had two children by her first husband. The son James Bishop (c. 1782–1819) passed his navigational exams in the early 1800s. He captained a number of privateering vessels during the Gunboat War. The daughter Mary Ann (Mariane) Bisho married ship captain James Ogilvie (1762–1825). He was born on Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies to a Scottish father and a Danish mother. He was sent to Scotland to receive a commercial education. He moved to Copenhagen after his father's death where he was employed by Charles August Selby. In 1789 he served as 1st mate on board the frigate Mette Marie (owned by van Hemmert and Partners) on a voyage to the Danish West Indies. In 1794–95 he served as captain of Anna og Lowisa (owned by Selby) on another voyage to the Danish West Indies. In 1798 he served as captain of NØJSOMHED on a third expedition to the Danish West Indies. In 1800–1801, he was captain of Stærke Odde. Alison Malcolm's property was home to 13 residents in four households at the 1801 census. Malcholm resided in the building with one maid. James Ogilvie and Mariane Bishop resided in another apartment with their one-year-old son James Ogilvie and one maid. Rasmus Fenger, pastor of the Church of Our Saviour, resided in the building with his wife Marthe Helene Meinertz, their two children (aged two and four), a wet nurse and a maid. The last resident, Ole Hansen Dam, a workman, resided in the building alone. Alison Malcholm's property was listed in the new cadastre of 1806 as No. 179 in Christianshavn Quarter. In 1801–1803 and again in 1804–1806, Ogilvie served as captain of København (owned by Dunxfelt) on two voyages to India. In India he made a fortune on private trade. In 1807, he was supposed to captain København on a third expedition to India but it was obstructed by the war with England.He subsequently bought Neppegård at Hørsholm where he then lived with his family until 1815. In 1817, he captained Maria on a voyage to India. He died on another expedition to India in 1825. His son James (1800–1846) worked for a trading house in Calcutta where he died from cholera. His som George (1801–1809) was a general trader in India and China.
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