Last updated: September 19, 2022
Place
Danish Brotherhood in America Headquarters Building
David Calease, NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
3717 Harney Street
Significance:
Architecture
Designation:
National Register of Historic Places
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Private Property Owner
Located within the Gold Coast Historic District, the Danish Brotherhood in America building is an early postmodern office building with Danish architectural details approximately a mile-and-a-half west of downtown Omaha. The building was constructed in 1966 as the national headquarters for the Danish-American benevolent society and insurance company.
onsisting of Danish veterans who served in the American Civil War or the Danish-Prussian War, the Danish Arms Brothers was formed in Omaha in 1881. Similar groups soon formed in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, eventually holding a convention in Omaha in 1882. Together they formed an ethnic fraternal order to preserve Danish culture and traditions while offering benefits to its members. Growing steadily, the Danish Brotherhood in America estimated to have more than 10,000 members across thirteen states in the late 1890s, that number doubling one-quarter into the twentieth century. In the mid-1990s the Danish Brotherhood merged with Woodmen of the World/Assured Life Association.
The building’s design combines National Romanticism and Postmodernism. National Romanticism looked to national styles for inspiration, drawing upon traditional architectural styles and craftsmanship, which were combined with modern technology and concepts of scale, massing. Architectural elements considered characteristic of their corresponding national or cultural traditions were utilized, including the use of brick, copper roofs, towers, spires, domes, and other medieval or baroque elements in a modern manner, including the simplification and abstraction of traditional elements National Romanticism became associated with Scandinavia, leading to the design and construction of significant buildings in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland that assert unique cultural and ethnic identities through the buildings’ design.
The National Register nomination for this property is not yet digitized but can be requested from the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office.
onsisting of Danish veterans who served in the American Civil War or the Danish-Prussian War, the Danish Arms Brothers was formed in Omaha in 1881. Similar groups soon formed in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin, eventually holding a convention in Omaha in 1882. Together they formed an ethnic fraternal order to preserve Danish culture and traditions while offering benefits to its members. Growing steadily, the Danish Brotherhood in America estimated to have more than 10,000 members across thirteen states in the late 1890s, that number doubling one-quarter into the twentieth century. In the mid-1990s the Danish Brotherhood merged with Woodmen of the World/Assured Life Association.
The building’s design combines National Romanticism and Postmodernism. National Romanticism looked to national styles for inspiration, drawing upon traditional architectural styles and craftsmanship, which were combined with modern technology and concepts of scale, massing. Architectural elements considered characteristic of their corresponding national or cultural traditions were utilized, including the use of brick, copper roofs, towers, spires, domes, and other medieval or baroque elements in a modern manner, including the simplification and abstraction of traditional elements National Romanticism became associated with Scandinavia, leading to the design and construction of significant buildings in Denmark, Sweden, and Finland that assert unique cultural and ethnic identities through the buildings’ design.
The National Register nomination for this property is not yet digitized but can be requested from the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office.