Maine Memory Network

Contributed by Boston Public Library

Description

This greeting postcard features Den Danske Landby, a Danish tourist village in Scarborough. The village was built in 1928-29 through the collaboration of hotelier Henry Rines and architect Peter Holdensen. It was modeled as a medieval Danish village based on the ancient Denmark town of Ribe, with architectural sketches made in Denmark. The village featured a variety of shops, including a bookshop, gift shop, and apothecary, as well as 100 unique stucco cottages with balconies, cupolas, weathervanes, birdhouses, and artificial red tile roofs. Employees wore period attire. The village functioned as a popular seasonal motel throughout the 1930s and into the war years, at which point the government took over the buildings to lease to shipyard workers.

The cottages had all been destroyed by fire otherwise demolished by 1970. Raddhuset, the Town Hall building was the last part of the village to be demolished. It featured elaborate gardens with exotic plants, a restaurant entryway lined with a row of wooden shoes, and a statue of Danish patriot Neils Ebbenson.

The caption reads, "Greetings from Danish Village, Portland, Maine."

The Tichnor Brothers printing company published this type of postcard circa 1938 as part of their Maine series. These, and other postcards, by the Tichnor Brothers Company are officially known as the Tichnor Gloss Series because the photographs were notoriously retouched on such a level that does not allow the postcards to be classified as photographs or paintings.

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About This Item

• Title: Danish Village, Scarborough, ca. 1938
• Creator: Tichnor Bros., Inc.
• Creation Date: circa 1938
• Subject Date: circa 1938
• Location: Scarborough, Cumberland County, ME
• Media: Linen texture postcard
• Dimensions: 9 cm x 14 cm
• Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection
• Object Type: Text and Image

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Cross Reference Searches

Standardized Subject Headings

• Danish Village (Scarborough, Me.).
• Motels--Maine--Scarborough
• Postcards
• Tourism--Maine--Scarborough

People

• Ebbenson, Neils
• Holdensen, Peter
• Rines, Henry

Other Keywords

• Advertising
• Cottages
• Danish villages
• Model villages
• Motels
• Postcards
• Postcards--Maine
• Tourism

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For more information about this item, contact:

Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street, Boston, MA 02116
(617) 859-2039
Website

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