Copenhagen’s Potato Row: A Row of Homes Named After a Potato Field
In the 1800s, there was a high demand for affordable, safe living quarters to house Copenhagen’s ever-expanding roster of industrial workers. A vast number of available factory jobs prompted many workers to migrate from the Danish countryside to Denmark’s most bustling city. Denmark’s ancient housing stock was not keeping up with demand. Multiple families crowded into dilapidated turrets. Sewage, garbage, and all manner of revolting muck lined Copenhagen’s streets. After a raging cholera epidemic in 1853 killed over 5,000 people, the Danish government realized that Copenhagen desperately needed new houses.
Starting in 1873, the Worker’s Building Association began to build interconnected rows of three-story houses constructed of yellow brick. The new houses were referred to as Kartoffelraekkerne, or “Potato Row.” The name Potato Row references the former farming district on which the new houses were built, where a potato field once sprouted. Each Potato House was home to 3 separate families. Every family had their own floor.
The 480 Potato Row houses still stand today. In the 1970s, many of Copenhagen’s Potato Houses had fallen into disrepair. There was a push to raze the houses of Potato Row to build a road through Copenhagen. Potato Row’s residents ardently opposed a Copenhagen council initiative that called for every house on Potato Row to be demolished. Residents agreed to renovate Potato Row and convert each house into a single-family dwelling. Today, Potato Row is a ritzy neighbor. Potato Row’s compact design is all the rage among modern architects. Don’t expect to pay a Worker’s Building Association price for a dwelling inspired by Potato Row. Nouveau Potato Houses—with closely-packed kitchens and small rooms—are selling for big bucks. Too bad the Worker’s Housing Association ceased to exist in 1974. Denmark‘s housing market has certainly evolved. Thankfully the muck-lined streets have remained a thing of the past.
UnusualPlaces Field Notes
- Location
- Kartoffelrækkerne (Potato Rows), Østerbro, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Coordinates
- 55.69204, 12.57499
- Access
- VisitDenmark recommends Kartoffelrækkerne as a Copenhagen residential area to see, and the municipality identifies it as a protected neighborhood of 480 occupied terraced houses. Keep to streets and sidewalks open to visitors, follow posted signs, and do not enter homes, private forecourts and gardens, or resident-only spaces.
- Admission
- No ticket or visitor admission process is published for viewing the neighborhood from its streets. The houses and private residential spaces are not visitor attractions.
- Time needed
- No standard visit duration is published. The time depends on how much of the residential streetscape you view; this is a walk through an occupied neighborhood, not a timed attraction.
- Best season
- No official source names a best season for visiting this residential neighborhood.
- Opening hours
- No visitor timetable is published. Treat this as a lived-in neighborhood, respect posted access signs, and avoid disturbing residents; private homes and gardens are not open to visitors.
- Location checked
- 2026-09-28
- Facts checked
- 2026-10-29
Map marks the area, not a visitor entrance.
Location
Use the zoom buttons or pinch to zoom. Use arrow keys to pan when the map is focused.
Interactive map loads when in view.
Suggest an edit
No account needed. Your update goes to the editor for review.
Explorer Passport
Next badge: Trail Scout
Unlocked after exploring 5 different unusual places.
0 of 5 places explored
Discover more from Unusual Places
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
