Hareskovby

Facts

Town houses toe the Slangerup line

By Ulla Rønberg, Konsulent, cand. mag. (1 story)

Hareskovby is a small town of about 3,500 inhabitants with forest on two sides. Once the common for the farmers of Værløse, it was parcelled out as small farms in 1794. The transformation into a residential area full of houses really accelerated when the railway line to Slangerup opened in 1906 with a station at Hareskov. Suddenly, commuting was easy and this was a conveniently fast destination for Copenhageners out for a picnic on a Sunday afternoon. A few enterprising souls built impressive houses but the projects failed when no buyers were interested. Instead, Hareskovby became a more modest area of family houses with an area of holiday homes for middle and working class families. Right up until the 1950s, half the houses in the town were small timber holiday homes.

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The last holiday home

Story written by Ulla Rønberg

Time / Periode 1906

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The last holiday home still stands in the back garden of historian Finn Løkkegaard. Built in 1938, it was later refurbished but has now been restored to its original design. Finn and his wife Tove moved to Hareskovby in 1961. He describes the town at that time as being a scattering of buildings with a few former farms, some old houses in historical styles, large brick houses, bungalows and timber holiday homes from the inter-war period. The town remained the same until the building boom in the 1960s and 1970s radically altered its character as standard types of housing moved into the area. Later, more individual houses also appeared and the old houses were converted and double carports added. Here and there, the core of a house is still an old holiday home, carefully hidden behind a brick facade and extensions that transform it into a picturesque house for use all year round.