Gustav la Cour Christensen

Gustav la Cour Christensen was born on April 15, 1925, died on September 25, 2009. He was a son of Knud Hoevring Christensen and Anna la Cour. He was the oldest of a sibling of 4, of which one is my father (Joergen la Cour Christensen). He never received education, but at one point bought a smaller farm, Elholtvej 9, Ryomgård. He worked with his mother until he could not do it again sometime in the early 00's.

His father had had foot-and-mouth disease in the herd twice, and then the farm end up on auction. The purchase of the farm I believe happened after the father's death in 1951. The mother (Anna la Cour) lived on the farm until her death in 1974, though with a period in a nursing home. After her death, a very large part of the house was no longer used or touched. Flowers in the windowsill stood wither for many, many years, the cobwebs in the windows allowed to grow. Subscribing to several magazines and stamps was his only interest. He never married and did not leave behind any children.

On December 3, 1999, a violent hurricane struck Denmark, and both extensions and farmhouses lost the roof. The property was already in sharp decline at that time, but since he had no storm insurance, there were limits to how much he could pay to fix it. It only turned into a partially new roof of the farmhouse. The extensions were allowed to decay. Only the barn survived the storm, and here he had some heifers in the years after.

He bequeathed it all to a fund, and they asked a lawyer in Aarhus to settle the estate. In this connection, I was refused to buy anything from the estate, the lawyer apparently had other thoughts on the estate. A few years later, the foreigners were knocked down, but the farmhouse was allowed to remain until 2019. Today all the buildings are gone and only my meager memories of the farm are left. The photo series below is from May 17, 2009.

After the storm in 1999, the developments were without a roof, and the property gradually fell into disrepair

Inside the courtyard the decay is very clear. He fired wood the last years, but that stack was never used. Horse stable in the left, workshop and locum in the right

The farmhouse also lost the reef taken off in 1999, but here new plates came on

The horse stable seen from the back. Note the massive boulders walls

Brewer's window with cobwebs dating from before 1974 when Anna la Cour died

Here I am down in the victim room in the rear of the utility room. My grandmother did not cook or jam in the last years of her life, so this is probably from 1968 - 1970

Henkog and juice, probably from 1968 - 1970

This is from the back of the pig barn. The roof is gone and the entire structure is collapsing

This is from the pig barn. Both the roof and ceiling are gone

The barn where he had a couple of calves walking until a few years before his death

The farmhouse faces the garden. It is hard to imagine that here was a good garden where vegetables, fruits and much more were grown. The tree are mirabelle wood, yellow juicy mirabella

The pig house seen from the road

The following are older pictures from my earliest childhood

The yard seen from the air

The pig and food court from the courtyard

The farmhouse, which like the rest of the yard was thatched.

My uncle Gustav, my big brother Steen, me, my grandmother and my father

Gustav, my big brother Steen and me. I estimate I'm 4 years here, so it's 1958

Gustav and my grandmother. I mean the dog was named Molly

The yard seen from the road. Two new roofs have now been added to the farm