A Danish Oak Herringbone Built to Last

Ryan Kushner Headshot
Courtesy of Horning Parquet
Courtesy of Horning Parquet

5 Y 219 Wfb LgCourtesy of Horning Parquet

Famed Danish architect Arne Jacobsen (1902–1971) left no known documents about his 1937 design for the oak herringbone floor in the city hall of Aarhus, Denmark, and, unfortunately, neither did the floor's supplier, Skanderborg, Denmark-based Horning Parquet. All that's left is the gorgeous floor itself, which Horning CEO Peter Vissing says is a testament to the company's dedication to wood. Horning's reputation persists 82 years later: "It's said that we put wood dust in our hair as kids and now we have wood in our brains," Vissing says. The arresting oak herringbone in the expansive hallway of the 10,000-square-foot building has no stain; its darker tones were from fuming the wood, Vissing explains. The nail-down herringbone flooring is interlaced with replacement pieces from the original flooring produced—amazingly, in the basement there's still a large supply of replacement pieces that were stored at the time of installation around 1941. Following the acclaimed city hall's completion, Horning went on to handle flooring for numerous high-end, custom projects throughout Europe, as it still does today. The company doesn't always receive the fame the architects do, but it doesn't hunt for it, either, Vissing says. "Our product is installed in buildings that last for generations; they outlast us," says Vissing. "That's where we take pride."

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