Lerchenborg

Lerchenborg
Lerchenborg's main wing viewd from the gardens
General information
Architectural style	Rococo
Location	Kalundborg
Country	Denmark
Coordinates	55°39′12.93″N 11°04′47.30″E / 55.6535917°N 11.0798056°E / 55.6535917; 11.0798056Coordinates: 55°39′12.93″N 11°04′47.30″E / 55.6535917°N 11.0798056°E / 55.6535917; 11.0798056
Construction started	1743
Client	Christian Lerche

Lerchenborg is a manor house located 4 km south of Kalundborg on the west coast of Zealand, Denmark. It is the clubhouse for the Royal Tarok Club (DKT); the owner, a Tarok player himself, chairs the club, which was founded in 2008. The DKT is noted for occasional sightings of minor Danish celebrities, such as members of the Wedell noble family; Nils Foss, a film director; the owners of the Asbæk art gallery; Ole Mathiesen, watchmaker; and, most famously, HRH Henrik, Prince Consort of Denmark.

The estate was established by Carl von Ahlefeldt when he closed down the village of Østrup to establish Østrupgård in 1704 from land that used to belong to Kalundborg Castle. In 1742 it was acquired by general Christian Lerche (1692-1757). The large estate included 7 manors, 13 churches and extensive woodlands, taking in practically all of Kalundborg Amt. Lerche constructed a new seat on the estate, probably assisted by Nicolai Eigtved, Denmark's leading architect of the time.

Lerche received the Order of the Elephant in 1748 and was given status of count in 1752. He renamed his estate Lerchenborg in 1754 but did not establish it as a county (grevskab) which, since he had no direct heirs, would fall back to the king. Instead he founded a stamhus which secured succession rights for other lines of the Lerche family.

When Christian Cornelius Lerche, who had inherited Lerchenborg in 1804, was ennobled with rank of count, on 26 May 1818, Lerchenborg was combined with Aunsøgård, Mineslund, Asnæsgård, Lerchenfeld, Birkendegård, Vesterbygård, Astrup and Davrup to form the County of Lerchenborg (Grevskabet Lerchenborg).

In 1862, Hans Christian Andersen stayed at Lerchenborg for a week as guest of Count C.A. Lerche.

The county was dissolved in 1923 and the Lerchenborg estate passed out of the Lerche family's ownership in 1927. However, in 1952 it was reacquired by a member of the family, Christian Albrecht Frederik Lerche-Lerchenborg, and has been owned by the Lerchenborg counts ever since. Mineslund and Asnæsgården were sold off in connection with the reacquission..