I’m an Architect and bought a 20th century Danish Community Hall to save it from demolition

Hi fellow architects + architecture enthusiasts,
I recently purchased Eskilstrup Forsamlingshus, a century-old Danish community hall built originally in 1908-1931, which was facing demolition. It was used to store a private person's car collection for the last 40 years, and I found out after buying it that it was declared a ruin on TV and unsavable. But the majority of the brickwork is still in decent condition. The roof and one of the gable walls is in terrible shape so that's what we're tackling first. Save the structure, then work on the finishing elements.

The building embodies early 20th-century Danish community architecture — simple, functional, yet full of character and a rare form of ornamentation from this time period, as the functionalist movement really took over pretty quickly at the time. My plan is to restore and adapt the hall sensitively, maintaining its original materials and design details while updating it for modern use.

I anticipate posting a lot about the restoration journey, including uncovering architectural details, challenges of working with historic structures and asbestos, and how we balance preservation with contemporary needs.

We have had wonderful community engagement and responses already from the locals – funnily enough through facebook groups of all things – giving me some great input to the future design and function

Would love to hear your thoughts or any advice — especially on preservation techniques or adaptive reuse!

Video here about the house, the history and the community