The story made short
The Little Mill was a very unique and significant home at
Christianshavn throughout the 20th century.
Celebrations and social gatherings have characterized the décor here, as it was the home of the creative, well-traveled, sociable and curious couple Johanne and Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard. They decorated the octagonal house in the national romantic style, with personal, unique and kitsch finds from around the world.
The Little Mill was built in 1669 as a stump mill and changed to a Dutch windmill in 1783. Together with the mill at the Citadel in Copenhagen, it is one of the two last battery mills in Copenhagen.
In the 1890’s, the flourmill depot was shut down and The Little Mill was left to decay for many years. However in 1916, the mill and the side buildings were purchased by the young engineer Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard, who designed it as a factory and a private home.
Behind the characteristic yellow house front you will find the large, hidden and labyrinthine residence of Ejnar and Johanne. With five floors of living rooms, caves, secret rooms, wine brewery and even their very own banquet hall the coupled lived a magnificent life. Countless events have taken place in this house and many interesting people, animals and artists have inhabited or visited The Little Mill throughout the years.
Johanne lived in The Little Mill until 1972 when she moved into a nursing home. Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard died in 1949 and Johanne followed in 1974, but the living quarters remain untouched to this day.
In 1932 Johanne and Ejnar had just held one of their many lovely and characteristic dinner parties in The Little Mill, and on the back of a song from that evening, Ejnar began writing down what he wanted for the mill’s future. The Little Mill should be a place for artists, writers and scientists. Joyous occasions and buzzing creative life should fill the rooms of The Little Mill. Even funerals should be held here as a celebration to rightly remember the deceased. The year before Johanne’s death, The Johanne and Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard’s Foundation offered The Little Mill to the National Museum for the home to be preserved for posterity.
The National Museum undertook to run The Little Mill as an interior museum, but chose to shut down public tours in 2012. In the following years, The Little Mill was only open for private tours but eventually that ended too.
The Johanne and Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard’s Foundation has now repurchased The Little Mill which will re-open in autumn 2019 so it once again can be a place full of life, creativity, history, social gatherings and guided tours.
Johanne and Ejnar on a trip to the French Alps. The couple’s great travel-desire is reflected in the large amount of unique and kitsch finds from around the world that characterize the decor in The Little Mill.
Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard and their beloved dog Mill in the garden in front of The Little Mill. The couple had several dogs during the period they lived on the mill. Usually, the dogs were English Bulldogs named Mill.
Parties and guest was the trademark of life on Little Mill. This is a group photo from the peace party in 1945 when 85 guests celcebraited the liberation of Denmark post WWII.
The summer room, which Johanne loved to stay in, was decorated in 1927. It was originally designed as a skylight studio as Johanne enjoyed painting a lot, but over time the room was filled with furniture and travel memories.
The dining room was decorated in a national romantic style with inscriptions on the ceiling beams. It had a capacity of 40 dining guests. The many pieces of suits and the picture of the king on a horseback are all symbols of the couple’s strong national feeling.
In 1916, the young engineer Ejnar Flach-Bundegaard was on the lookout for suitable buildings to house his company DIAF – Danish Tool Apparatus Factory. Ejnar saw great potential in The Little Mill and moved the factory into the steam mill and into a now demolished warehouse across the street from The Little Mill.