Andreas Bjørn

Andreas Bjørn was born (as Anders Bjørn, name later changed to Andreas Bjørn) in Skælskør to Mads Andersen Bjørn and Karen Pedersdatter. His father was a peasant. He came to Copenhagen in an early age. In 1730, he took citizenship as a wholesaler. He initially worked in the lucrative timber trade. His lumberyard was located at the customs house (north of present-day Larsens Plads. From 1731 he supplied the Royal Danish Navy with provisions, cannons and large quantities of timber. From 1739, he also supplied the Royal Danish Army with cannons.^[1]

In 1732, Bjørn bought Grønnegård Harbour at the southern tip of Christianshavn. He mainly used the area as a lumberyard. In the same year, he also bought Niels Alsing's lumberyard at the other end of Strandgade. The property reached all the way from Strandgade to Christianshavn Canal and was partly lined with a row of wooden warehouses along the street. He demolished most of the buildings and constructed a house for his own use (now known as the Andreas Bjørn House) at the corner of Strandgade and Bådsmandsstræde in 1734. He also constructed a number of warehouses and workshops on the land. In 1733, he was permission to establish a dockyard on reclaimed land to the north of his new property. Separated from the rest of Christianshavn by a branch of Christianshavn Canal (now Wilders Kanal), his dockyard became known as Bjørnsholm (Bjørn's Isle).^[2] Approximately 50 ships were built at the dockyard. Some of them were used by himself in oversea trade, while others were commissions from other trading houses or the government.^[1]

Bjørn participated widely in overseas trade, especially with the Danish West Indies. In 1747, together with Ulrik Frederik Suhm (1686-1758) and Frederik Holmsted (1683–1758), he founded the General Trading Company which mainly traded with Iceland, Finnmark and later Greenland. The company took over the northernmost part of Bjørnsholm.^{[1] [4] [5]}

In 1747 the Royal Copenhagen Shooting Society moved their activities to a corner of Bjørnsholm. When Frederick V became a member later that same year, Bjørn arranged a large celebration at his own expense. The king, in return, appointed him as Royal Agent. In 1748, Bjørn was appointed as one of the directors of the new Royal Danish Theatre.

Andreas Bjørn's site at Christianshavn is now known as Wilders Plads, Krøyers Plads and Grønlandske Handels Plads after later owners. The old main building and a half-timbered workshop of his shipyard is still found at Wilders Plads. The Andreas Bjørn House at Strandgade 46 is also a heritage listed building. Andreas Bjørns Gade, also in Christianshavn, is named after him.

• Andreas Bodenhoff