page_title: Ploug House
section_title: The Melchiors and H. C. Andersen
hierarchical_section_title: Ploug House / History / The Melchiors and H. C. Andersen
caption_attribution_description: English: Moritz G. Melchior, detail from painting by Bertha Wegmann
context_page_description: Ploug House is a listed Neoclassical property on the corner of Højbro Plads and Ved Stranden in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It dates from the building boom which followed after the Copenhagen Fire of 1795 but takes its name after the poet, publisher and politician Carl Ploug who lived there in the 1860s and 1870s and also published the newspaper ''Fædrelandet from the premises.
context_section_description: Moritz G. Melchior, the owner of Moses & Søn G. Melchior, acquired the building in 1855. He lived with his family on the second floor and also ran his company  from the premises. The Melchior family were among Hans Christian Andersen's closest friends. He stayed with the family from 13 March until 21 May 1870 in their residence on Højbro Plads, where he wrote What the Whole Family Said, and the Melchiors also hosted the celebration of his 70th birthday. Andersen usually visited the family for dinner on Thursdays. Other friends of the family, who would often also attend the Thursday Dinners, included the painters Carl Bloch and Frederik Christian Lund, poet and museum administrator Carl Andersen and representatives of the press such as Dagbladet editor C. St. A. Bille, journalists Robert Watt and  P." Cabiro" Hansen and publisher and editor of Fædrelandet  ("The Fatherland") Carl Ploug.
caption: An aging Melchior painted by Bertha Wegmann
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