Joseph Christian Lillie (20 March 1760 – 29 January 1827), also known as J.C. Lillie, was a Danish neoclassical architect and interior designer. His early career was in Denmark, where he is mainly known for his interior designs and furniture production. His later career was in Schleswig-Holstein, where he is known for his independent architectural works. Early life and training Joseph Christian Lillie was born in Copenhagen to the master cabinetmaker Georg Friederich Lillie and his wife, Maria Eva Schils. He is presumed to have trained as a cabinetmaker. He was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Art ca. 1774-1780, and was a student of Caspar Frederik Harsdorff, then director of the academy and Denmark's leading architect in the late 18th century and now referred to as “The Father of Danish Classicism”. Lillie won both the academy's "little silver medallion" and the "large silver medallion" in 1775. Later, he won the little gold medallion in 1777, and the large gold medallion in 1779, the same year a fellow architecture student, Christian Frederik Hansen, won a gold medallion. Lillie and Hansen became friends, and Lillie worked closely with him during his career. Early career in Denmark Lillie worked as a substitute teacher in the academy's building class 1781-1782, and in 1783 took on a full-time position there as teacher, but never as professor, which meant that he could not become a member of the academy. In early 1784 the cabinetmaking guild tried to prevent his getting a license to run the family cabinetmaking workshop, which his recently deceased mother had run as a widow after the death of his father. The guild did not recognize him as having guild rights, because he had not received guild recognition for a work submitted for approval. The academy, under Johannes Wiedewelt’s leadership, supported Lillie's request for a trade license as a cabinetmaker in Copenhagen. The Chancellery awarded him all guild rights in 1779 because he had won the academy's large gold medallion. He received his trade license that year, and ran the workshop from 1784 to 1799. That same year, on Harsdorff's recommendation, he was hired by the new director, Carsten Anker, as inspector and designer at The Royal Furniture Storehouse (Det kongelige Møbelmagasin), replacing Georg Roentgen from Neuwied. The Storehouse was a national institution with the aim of improving domestic furniture production by creating model production facilities, supporting new master craftsmen, and