Johan Daniel Herholdt was a Danish architect, professor and royal building inspector. He worked in the Historicist style and had a significant influence on Danish architecture during the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. His most famous work is the Copenhagen University Library in Fiolstræde in Copenhagen which heralded a new trend. The strong use of red brick in large-scale cultural and civic buildings was to characterize Danish architecture for several decades. He was a leading proponent of the "national" school in Danish architecture of the period as opposed to Ferdinand Meldahl's and Vilhelm Dahlerup's "European" school.

The architecture of Denmark has its origins in the Viking Age, richly revealed by archaeological finds. It became firmly established in the Middle Ages when first Romanesque, then Gothic churches and cathedrals sprang up throughout the country. It was during this period that, in a country with little access to stone, brick became the construction material of choice, not just for churches but also for fortifications and castles.