Coastal road

Facts

Strandvejen

By Steffen Elmer Jørgensen, Arkivar, seniorforsker, Ph.D. (18 stories)

The beachfront road Strandvejen was extended and partly relaid in 1936-37 by numerous local municipal road authorities along the Sound coast. Today, Strandvejen is a main approach road to Copenhagen and an idyllic touring road along the Danish Riviera. In the 1930s, Strandvejen, up to 27 metres wide on some sections, was a modern marvel. The road runs from Skovshoved directly by the waterfront to Klampenborg. It then turns west around Tårbæk and becomes a by-pass around Humlebæk. The first stretch from Hellerup to Charlottenlund had to be diverted from the waterfront because of the Tuborg Brewery and the densely built-up residential zone.

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Road à la mode

Story written by Steffen Elmer Jørgensen

Time / Periode 1936

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" In 1903 a ban was imposed on motorised traffic along the old, narrow beachfront road on Sundays. Persons wishing to travel to Klampenborg Deer Park or the Bakken amusements were obliged to travel by train or horse and carriage. The new, modern 'water beach' road as it was called, was better suited to the villas of the rich and famous. But the owners of the grand villas far from welcomed a wide road that came between them and the waterfront. The road was laid simultaneously with construction of the Arne Jacobsen Bellevue Strandbad sea bathing resort; the Bellavista residential area and the Bella Bio og Teater cinema and theatre house at Klampenborg. The buildings were the ultimate in gleaming white, understated Functionalism. What better than a trip on a hot summer's day in a cabriolet along the concrete road to the stylish new seaside resort? And if short of petrol, one could pull in at Arne Jacobsen's futuristic service station at Skovshoved Harbour. "