page_title: Nyhavn 20
section_title: 19th century
hierarchical_section_title: Nyhavn 20 / History / 19th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Frawing by Hans Christian Andersen of his view from Nyhavn 20 in Copenhagen, Denmark
context_page_description: Nyhavn 20, also known as the Boel House, is a listed property overlooking the Nyhavn canal in central Copenhagen, Denmark. A plaque on the facade commemorates that Hans Christian Andersen lived in the building when he had his first fairytale published.
context_section_description: From 1 September 1834, Hans Christian Andersen was a lodger on the second floor, renting two rooms from Karen Sophie Larsen who was the widow of a skipper. Andersen's sleaping room faced the courtyard and the Botanical Garden which was then located in Vharlottenborg's garden, while his combined living room and study faced the canal. In a letter to Henriette Hanck from 1 January 1835, on her request, Andersen made a detailed description of his home at Nyhavn 20.
  Andersen wrote his first fairytales while living in the building. They were published in May 1835. The small booklet contained the stories The Tinderbox, Little Claus and Big Claus, The Princess and the Pea and  Little Idas Flowers. He published a total of six booklets with Fairy Tales Told for Children in the period 1835-1842, followed by New Fairytales published in the period  1843-1848. Andersen also wrote the novels O.T. and Kun en Spillemand (1837) and completed The Improvisatore while he lived at Nyhavn 20. In his diary, he describes an episode where he suddenly felt cold while working on The Improvisator. When he opened the door to the neighbouring room, he found out that his land lady and the maid had opened the windows and poured water on the floor, so that her four children could slide on it when the water froze. On 1 December 1838, Andersen had grown so tired of the conditions that he moved to Hotel du Nord wgich was located at the site where the Magasin du Nord department store lies today.
  The painter Wilhelm Marstrand was a resident in the building in 1843–44. His next home was located at Frederiksholms Kanal 12. The medical doctor C. E. Fenger  lived in the building right after he had become a professor in Chinese medicine at the University of Copenhagen.
caption: Drawing by Hans Christian Andersen of "Nyhavn from my window", 1834
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