New Nordic

The juice stations at Møn

 

The transport of sugar beet with horse-drawn carriages on bad roads was a major challenge in the 1880s, when sugar beet production accelerated on Møn. Therefore, at the same time with the sugar factory in Stege, three juice stations were erected on Møn (Damsholte, Damme and Pollerup), so that the peasants could deliver their beets locally.

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Later, juice stations were also erected in Holme on Møn and Mern on South Zealand, so there were a total of five juice stations connected to the factory in Stege.

At the juice stations, so-called thin juice (about 14% sweet) was extracted, which was then pumped into Stege through buried pipes for final processing. A bit of a technical achievement in the time!

The production of sugar beet got enormous importance at Møn, because besides giving work to agriculture also increased employment in the craft industry and in the transport industry - and gave unskilled workers, including some women, jobs at the factory.

The trucks emerging in the late 1920s made it possible to centralize the production, and one after the other the juice stations were shut down - in Damme it happened in 1929. Then the juice station in Damme was used for cement foundry, timber trade, warehouse for a road museum, scenography collection and café, but the building has also been left unused for long periods.

 

The architect behind

The architect behind the juice station in Damme is Ludvig Peter Fenger (1833-1905), who in the same year also designed the actual sugar factory in Stege, and two more juice stations - in Damsholte and Landsled (Pollerup), which were made according to the same drawings as the one in Damme.

Fenger, who was a student of Thorvald Bindesbøll (1846-1908), has also designed Rødkilde Højskole at Møn, The Technical Company School in Linnésgade in Copenhagen and the tower on Himmelbjerget by Silkeborgsøerne.

Fenger was in the period 1886-1904 city architect in Copenhagen and responsible for among others Enghave Plads' School and the Classenske Legatskole as well as Copenhagen's main fire station, Østre Elektricitetsværk, Vestre Prison and Den Brune Kødby in Copenhagen.

 

Building Style

The juice station in Damme, which was built in 1884, is a fine example of the historicism that characterized construction in Denmark during the period 1850-1900. The round arches and the frieze under the roof edge on the facade of the juice station are examples of inspiration from the Romanesque building style.

 

Well worth preserving

The dam station in Damme is the only intact of the originally four stations on Møn. With the entire plot of one and a half hectares, the two stewards' homes and traces of rowing chambers and unloading ramp, it is still possible to sense how the entire plant has looked.

 

The juice station today

Since 2016, the property's roof and facades have been thoroughly restored. Subsequently, the interior of the building, which after many years of changing ownership and function no longer contained historical remains from sugar production, has been decorated with a large assembly room and three holiday apartments. The plan ahead is to establish an outdoor staircase / stage and a new roof, so that outdoor activities can also be carried out.

 

Saftstation in Damme

Fanefjord Kirkevej 35

4792 Askeby

Contact:

Peter and Charlotte Bysted

pby@icono.dk

Find them on Instagram:

@saftstationen #saftstationen #saftstationenidamme