Credit: — Gauri Sirur

Travel story

The Colorful Houses of Copenhagen

Six Word Photo Story Challenge: Freestyle

They had color coding figured out.

The Nyhavn district of Copenhagen blooms with rows of vividly hued houses along its waterfront. The houses were built in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I believed the houses were painted to beautify the waterfront. But, according to our tourist guide, aesthetics were an afterthought.

In those times, houses were usually identified by name, which often reflected their owner’s name. Or the house’s architectural features— think “Green Gables.” You could find an address by the house’s proximity to landforms, such as hills, valleys, or trees. Alternatively, you could rely on man-made landmarks, such as a bridge or the town square.

There was, however, no uniform system for creating postal data. Therefore, Copenhagen (along with many other European cities), used color coding to differentiate addresses.

A majority of the Nyhavn waterfront residences were owned by sailors, tradespeople, and merchants. When these weary travelers were returning home from the sea, it helped that they could identify their brightly colored houses from a distance.

A snarkier version of the story goes that when sailors, supposedly drunk, rolled in from the sea, they were in no condition to remember fine architectural details or landmarks. It was easier to find their way to a looming block of color.

A nugget, unrelated to the colorful homes in Copenhagen’s Nyhavn district is that a certain writer of children’s literature lived here. We have all read his stories. His name was Hans Christian Anderson.