After World War II, Danish Ambassador to the United StatesHenrik Kauffmann (1888–1963) suggested that Denmark needed a new embassy and he found that the best solution would be to construct a new purpose-built embassy on a recently acquired piece of land.[1] Leading Danish Modernist architect Vilhelm Lauritzen was charged with the commission and the building was completed in 1960. It was the first modern embassy building to be built in the United States.[2][3]
The embassy building is perched on a hilltop, set back from the street, and houses both the Ambassador's residence and the chancellery. It is built to a simple and restrained Modernist design. Both the exterior and interior is clad in marble from Greenland.
Finn Juhl, another leading Danish Modernist designer, was put in charge of interior decorations and he furnished the embassy both with furniture of his own and design and other Danish furniture classics, such as Arne Jacobsen chairs and Poul Henningsen lighting.