St. Peter's Hotel in Daells Varehus

The department store Daells Varehus was constructed in 1933-35 by the architect Vilhelm Lauritsen on the corner of Nørregade and Krystalgade. The newly erected complex drew its inspiration from modernism and the latest currents in European architecture. The department store was built with its characteristic tower and recurring window banding in the large, plastered facade, which is held aloft by the granite-clad shop facades of the bottom floor.

In the 1950s the complex along Krystalgade and Fiolstræde was extended with a smaller, characteristic version of the thirties’ building. At the end of the 1990s Daells Varehus closed, and in 1999 it was taken over by TK Development with a view to creating a five-star downtown hotel with 270 rooms and suites for the Norwegian hotel group HOST. Shop functions have been retained on the groundfloor and parts of the first floor. The hotel’s main entrance, part of which doubles as a café, is located in Krystalgade with direct access to a 1,500 sq.m vestibule, expanded into the yard atrium — a large, covered space housing a restaurant, lounge, ballroom and reception. Rooms and suites are spread over the other floors, a number with balconies offering views across the roofs of the city. 

The hotel complex is further divided by the look of the facade, with different facade colourways to reinforce Lauritsen’s original building and reduce the sense of scale amid the urban landscape.

The conversion was awarded a prize by the Association for Beautification of the Capital in 2003.

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