Architect Tage Hansen (November 5, 1906 – April 16, 1978) was employed at architect Erik V. Lind’s studio in Skive in 1929, and in 1934 he entered into a partnership with Lind, which lasted until Lind’s death in 1958.
Lind’s style
Erik V. Lind worked with all types of construction and designed a number of buildings in Skive city center.But from 1908 he started designing (cooperative) dairies and gradually built up a great deal of expertise in the field. Lind’s dairies are characterized by a high frothing hall in the middle of the dairy, which gives the dairy building a distinctive look.
Division of labor and change of style
This changed when Tage Hansen joined the company. There are indications that the two architect partners had a division of labor. Lind was in charge of negotiations with clients, while Tage Hansen managed the studio. It is probably Tage Hansen who brings about a change of style in the architecture of both dairies and other buildings that the company built from the 1930s onwards. Funkis became the dominant architectural style, as seen in the “Vulkan building”, Nørregade 13, in Skive, from 1935. It has a flat roof, large windows and balconies – but no concrete or yellow bricks, which is otherwise characteristic of funkis. But the yellow bricks appear on contemporary buildings in Skive. For example, O. Josephsen’s car dealership and garage, Sallinggade 15 and the villa Frederiksdal Alle 21. A larger building complex in funkis style is “Hotel Garni”, Østergade 11 in Skive from 1939/40.
New law gives school work
From 1937, the central schools partially replaced the dairies as the architectural firm’s main area of work. A new school law forced small rural municipalities to centralize their school system in order to meet the requirements for teaching gymnastics, handicrafts and home economics – and later other subjects. It was Tage Hansen who traveled around and advised and negotiated with the parish councils. In many places, they were hesitant about the unusually large investment in school construction that they were forced into. From 1937 to 1965, the company designed 70 schools and central schools, mainly for municipalities in central and western Jutland.
The municipality and private
The company also had assignments for Skive municipality, such as the retirement homes in “Grønnegården” in Skive (Block II-IV, 1939-1951), as well as private projects such as Egeris Hvilehjem (1961), Skive Væddeløbsbane (1965), and “Michael Nielsens Gård“, Nørregade 42 in Skive (1976). In 1962, he built the so-called Baltica building on the corner of Posthustorvet and Vestergade in Skive.
For a number of years he was the owner of “Hullet” opposite Skive Railway Station in Søndergade, but he did not succeed in building Skive’s first high-rise building.
Other jobs
In addition to being an architect, Tage Hansen was director of the general fire insurance for rural buildings from 1946 to 1975 and of Jyllands Kreditforening from 1966 to 1976/77.
Tage Hansen develops the Technical School
In 1934, Tage Hansen began teaching at Skive Technical School. In 1936, he was hired as principal of the school, which had 200 students in many different subjects taught in the evening. During his time as principal, conditions at the school changed fundamentally. Daytime teaching was introduced. And instead of teaching apprentices in all subjects, teaching was centralized at the individual schools. They now had students from all over the country. In Skive, this meant that it was necessary to build a new technical school, which Tage Hansen designed.
In 1961, architect Axel Ritto joined the company as a partner, and in 1969 Tage Hansen’s son-in-law, Svend Sennels, also joined as a partner.
Gravestone
Tage Hansen’s gravestone is designed by sculptor Erik Heide, Mors.