Lately the Danish magazine BO BEDRE featured a 4 pages long interview with Marianne Ibler about the latest book FRIIS&MOLTKE HUSENE.
In the years 1933-1959, the Danish architectural profession had much luck due to the scheme for government loans for newly built single-family houses. This meant that the architects Knud Friis and Elmar Moltke Nielsen became very successful.
“Their government loan houses are more than beautiful and functional architecture: they are human. And artistic. And driven by the joy of nature. BO BEDRE has met architect and architectural historian Marianne Ibler, who is current with a book FRIIS&MOLTKE HUSENE about the iconic houses.
It happens that virtue and necessity go together in the most beautiful way. The so-called state loan houses from the period 1933-1959 are obvious examples. The houses were a direct consequence of the social reforms that came out of the welfare state. The scheme was an offer to families to build their own home with a garden with favorable loans if they stayed within a specific size and a limited budget. With the state loan houses came a flourishing of the Danish architectural profession…”
Interview by Malou Wedel Bruun (BO BEDRE, page 56-59, March 2024)
