Oz

Volume 4 Article 4

1-1-1982

Classicism and Romanticism in Finnish Architecture

William C. Miller

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Recommended Citation Miller, William C. (1982) "Classicism and Romanticism in Finnish Architecture," Oz: Vol. 4. https://doi.org/ 10.4148/2378-5853.1035

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William C. Miller ,.

I am driven by my longing, And my understanding urges That I should commence my singing and begin my recitation. I wz/1 sing the people's legends, And the ballads of the nation. To my mouth the words are flowing, and the words are quickly falling, Quickly as my tongue can shape them, And between my teeth emerging. Dearest friend and much-loved brother, Best beloved of all companions, Come and let us sing log ether, Let us now begin our converse, Since at length we meet together, From two wtdely sundered regions. Rarely can we meet together, Rarely can one· meet the other, In these dismal Northem.regions, In the drea,r.y land of Pohja. Let us clap our hands together, Let us interlock our fingers; Let us sing a cheerful measure, Let ucr use our best endeavors, Whzle our dear ones hearken to us, 2 And our loved ones are instructed, Whzle the young are standing round us, 1. Marti Valikangas, Kllpyllt Housing Of the ·rising generation, Estate, Helsinki, 1920-25. Let them learn the words of magic, 2. Alvar Aalto, Villa 'Mairea', Noor­ And recall our' songs and legends, markku, 1938·39. Of the belt of Vainamoinen, 3. Reima and Raili Pietilll, 'Oipoli' student Of the forge of Ilmarinen, union center, Institute rif Technology, And of Kaukomieli's sword-point, Otaniemi, 1961-67, plan. And of}oukahainen 's crossbow: Of the utmost bounds Pohja, 3 And of Kaleva/a's wide heartlands. dismal Northern regions,' ' the pic­ in Finland's past, for it physically Kaleva/a, I, 1-36. underlying twentieth century Fin­ nish architecture: classicism and turesqueness and tactility of roman­ straddles eastern and western romanticism. In Finnish architecture ticism and the clarity and astrin­ Europe. From the depths of the In the opening lines of the Kaleva/a, this specifically means the Neo­ gency of classicism become in­ Middle Ages, the pre-Christian the bard speaks of being ''From two Classicism of the early nineteenth terlocked together in Finland's period sung of in the Kaleva/a, widely sundered regions,'' where century fin-de-sie'cle National modern architecture: Marti Finland was under Swedish rule. "Rarely can we meet together, Rare­ Romanticism. While classicism and V;dikangas'· Kapyla housing, Alvar Resulting from Finland's remote ly can we meet the other." While romanunsm, as the bard wryly Aalto's Villa 'Mairea,' and Reima location and relative inaccessibility, the first canto of the Finnish na­ notes, continuing our metaphoric and Raili Pietila's "Dipoli" student Christianity came .late to the Finns tional folk epic sets the stage·for the sojourn, ''Rarely one can meet the center being exemplars of this syn­ (after 1300); and ·not without a ensuing poetic saga, the notion of other," yet the two have formed a thesis (Figures 1-3). struggle between the eastern (Byzan­ the "two widely sundered regions" tradition which provides ·a cqntinu­ tine) church from Novgorod in could be viewed as a metaphor for ing source for formal architectural Although provincial and isolated for Russia and the western (Roman) the two prominent modes of ar­ expression · for twentieth-century the majoriry of its history, the no­ church from Sweden. The earliest 12 chitectural ordering and expression Finnish architecture. "In these tion of "tWo regions" plays heavily extant architecrural works date from the period following adoption of western Christianity: the Turku Cathedral, the small stone rural churches, and the several castle for­ tresses (Figures 4, 5). These medieval buildings were unpretentious works whose builders were responding to the exigencies and traditions of their provincial context.

While architectural development was gradual from the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries - a period characterized by the execu­ tion of a number of wooden churches built by master carpenters using the traditional interlocking log construction technique (Figure 6) - the Finnish countryside was being colonized and populated, and the first agricultural and industrial manors were established. While dominated by Sweden, Finland was never more than a rural protective barrier to Russia. Beginning in the eighteenth century, Russia expand­ ed westward, winning Finnish ter­ ritory from Sweden in 1721 and 17 4 3, thus steadily increasing its in­ fluence in the region. When Finland was ceded to Russia as part of the Napoleonic settlement, the czars ac­ tively brought the new Grand Duchy into the nineteenth century - socially, politically and architec­ turally.

From the provincial and rustic ver­ nacular building traditions ex­ emplified by the small stone medieval churches and the later wooden churches, Finland's ar­ chitecture, as a result of Russian in-

4. Church, Porvoo, 1414-18. 5. Olvanlinna Castle, Savonlinna, from 1475. 6. Jaakko Klemetinpoika Leppllnen, Church, Petllj!lvesi, 1763-64. 7. Carl Ludwig Engel, Senate Square, Helsinki, 1818-40.

13 tervention, was abruptly propelled ment of Helsinki as a Neo-Classical into the cosmopolitan world of late city. Engel, born in Berlin, studied eighteenth-century Neo-Classicism under Friedrich Gilly at the Prussian (Figure 7). By the end of the nine­ Academy of Art (Bauakademie) , teenth century, this international where he was a fellow student with orientation had succumbed to an in­ Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Engel came terest in national and regional to Helsinki after serving as town ar­ models as sources for formal ar­ chitect for Tallinn (Estonia) , and chitectural expression. This National sp ending 1813 and parts of Romantic movement in Finland 1815-1816 in St. Petersburg. The looked back to the building tradi­ 8. Geselliu , Li ndgr n and aorin n, tudl , W rk r' lub, Jyv kylll, influence of St. Petersburg, with the tions of stone and wooden churches and vill a, Hvittrll k, 1902. progressive Neo-Classicism of and peasant vernacular dwellings for Th mas de Thomon, Nikiforovich inspiration (Figure 8) . In the course Vor nikhin and Adrian Dimi­ of a century, both classical and tri vi h Zakharov among others, is romantic sensibilities became Sir John Summerson provides a two­ Classicism vi nt in hi ar hitecture as is the established as the dominant themes part definition of classical architec­ Mod_em scholars of archittJCIIIrll ariJ of influ ·n f hi erman education.4 in Finnish architecture, and occurred ture in his book, The Classical the opinion that Engel p erformtJd a ng I wa br ught to Helsinki in monumental task in creating a Finnish 1 15 and in 1 24 wa named Comp­ concurrently with events of Language ofArchitecture: ''The first architecture, and that stylistically he historical, political and social meaning is the most obvious. A was not provincial but a bnlliant artist troller f Publi Buildings, a posi­ significance. classical building is one whose on a European scale. 3 tion he held until hi death in 1840. decorative elements derive directly During this twenty-four year period , More importantly, an awareness of or indirectly from the architectural In 1809 an event of historical, Engel's work provided the dramatic these nineteenth-century develop­ vocabulary of the ancient world - political and social importance oc­ three-dimensional physical realiza­ ments is essential to the under­ the 'classical' world as it is often curred affecting Finland that was to tion of Ehrenstrom's grand plan for standing of the vicissitudes of called ... '' In addition to this also have architectural significance; Helsinki. Exhibiting an unparalleled twentieth-century Finnish architec­ "uniform" worn by "classical as a consequence of the Napoleonic consistency in architectonic form ture. Subsequent to the First World buildings '' ... the aim of classical·ar ­ settlement King Gustav IV ceded and refinement (Figure 7), the Fin­ War, a new, "rational" classicism chitecture has always been to achieve Finland to Russia. Finland was made nish architectural historian Nils Erik emerged as the predominant mode a demonstrable harmony of parts.'' 1 a semi-autonomous Grand Duchy Wickberg has commented: of architectural expression in Thus, classical architecture usually with czar Alexander I taking an ac­ When Engel died in 1840, "Empire" Finland and throughout Scandinavia exhibits an understandable, logical tive role in Finnish affairs. It was at Helsinki was almost complete - a city in reaction to the perceived exag­ and articulate geometric order, this time that the city ofTurku, long in which all the but/dings had been butit in the same neo-classical style, gerations of National Romanticism coupled with the use of classical the capital of Finland under Swedish with the same low sloping rooft and (Figures 1,9). From the Italian in­ elements and ornamentation (Figure rule, lost its position as the center of painted the same light shades. Sur­ spired architettura minore of the 7). Romantic architecture in con­ Finnish cultural and political life to rounded by water and massive grey 1920's, Finnish' architecture moved trast, as defined by Christian Helsinki. In 1812 Helsinki, a small outcrops of rock, the city lay new and gleaming, its heart the magnificent to embrace the International Style Norberg-Schulz in Genius Loci, is unimportant town up to that date, columned buildings of the Senate (Figure 9). But although the Inter­ "distinguished by multiplicity and became the new capital of Finland; Square.' national Style, or "Functionalism" variety . . . Romantic architecture is Alexander was moving political con­ as it was termed in Finland, had characterized by a ,strong 'at­ trol away from the former center of The consistency of Engel's Senate become the nor.JDative mode of ex­ mosphere', and may appear 'phan­ Swedish influence and closer to his Square, which stands almost totally pression by the late 1930's, its initial tastic' and 'mysterious', but also, capital of St. Petersburg. Helsinki intact today, and the surrounding severity was soon tempered by an in­ 'intim.ate' and 'idyllic' ... and aims had been destroyed by fire in 1808 older city center of Helsinki is vir­ troduction of romantic features at 'expression' ." He continues, and a new town plan, Neo-Classical tually unmatched in its formal con­ (Figure 2) . Thus a continual "The 'atmosphere' and expressive in conception and spirit, incor­ sistency and detail development and dialogue between classical and character of romantic architecture is porating wide streets, esplanades refinement. The ensemble consists romantic qualities has occurred in obtained by means of formal com­ and large squares, had been of four major buildings - Nicholas Finland's pre- . and post-War ar­ plexity ... ''2 Romantic architecture developed by Johan Albert Cathedral, the Senate House, the chitecture. To better comprehend thus makes use of picturesque com­ Ehrenstrom. Alexander I, at University, and the University the particular qualities common to positional elements in the plan form Ehrenstrom's request, invited Carl Library - and is encompassed by a the work of Alvar Aalto, Erik l3rygg­ and volumetric massing, ex­ Ludwig Engel to take charge of the significant number of neighboring man, Viljo Revell, Timo Pentilla, pressiveness and tactility in material architectural development of the buildings also executed by Engel the Pietilas, the Sirens, Aarno selection and usage, and emphasizes new capital plan. featuring similar formal Ruusuvuori, Aarne Ervi, and the the personal idiosyncrasies that per­ characteristics. The Senate Square Suomalainens, an understanding of tain to the designer's quest for in­ This action aligned provincial slopes gently from north to south, the classical and romantic founda­ dividuality and originality (Figure Finland with the major contem­ with the Senate House and the tions comprising modern Finnish ar­ 8). porary direction in European ar­ University forming the respective 14 chitecture is necessary. chitecture through Engel's develop- eastern and western enclosures of the .@.;,;,~, /;iu~ 1&1J& ~a:Y".'t :(C.:~. -'"J'}" ~-~ Dfyy-:'

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y II 12 10 space. The south edge is comprised of a number of governmental and private buildings. On the north side of the Square, the monumental steps are surmounted by Nicholas Cathedral, which physically dominates the space and acts as the posttlve reciprocal of the void formed by the square. There are a number of common characteristics seen in Engel's Senate Square complex. First, the image of the buildings' primary form is based upon an overall geometrical simplicity and a flatness of surface. Engel's designs demonstrate a preference for the subordination of individual elements to the unity of the building as a whole. Second, within this framework of clean forms and smooth surface treatment, the classical language is crisply and definitely modeled upon the sur­ face. Third, these monumental works were constructed of brick, the facades were plastered and then painted with strong colors (predominantly in yellow ochre and blue-grey). The facade details and ornamentation were accented in chitecrural style of the new Grand Francesco Bassi's Old University white while the roofs were black. Duchy, and simultaneously Building (1802-15) (Figure 11) for This form of ordering and detail transformed provincial Helsinki into the Abo Akademi exemplifies the development is similar to contem­ an appropriately monumental Euro­ Swedish-influenced Neo-Classicism. poraneous work seen in St. A Swedish-educated Italian, who 10. J. L. Desprez, Church, H!lrnmenlina, pean capital. 1787, elevation. Petersburg; yet in Helsinki its im­ preceded Engel as Comptroller of II. Carlo Francesco Bassi, Old University pact is somewhat more gentle and But Engel was not the first designer Public Buildings, Bassi's more severe Building, Turku, 1802·15. intimate than the often unrelenting to bring Neo-Classicism to Finland. form of Neo-Classicism was com­ 12. Old Town Hall, Porvoo, 1764. streetscapes of the czarist capital. The Pantheon inspired church at posed of plain wall surfaces un­ 13. Town center with Town Hall, Hamina, plan from 1721, Town Hall from 1789. Thus, through the control of volume Hameenlinna (1787) (Figure 10), by broken by columns or pilasters, but and mass, surface elaboration and the Swedish court architect ]. L. accented with string courses, cor­ color, a unique architectural totality Desprez, is usually considered to be nices and window surrounds, and a was created. With the realization of the earliest example of Neo­ more subtle use of color. In 1827 a the Senate Square, Neo-Classicism Classicism in Finland. In Turku, the major fire destroyed the greater part came to represent the public ar- Swedish capital of Finland, Carlo ofTurku (over 2500 buildings) and a 15 Neo-Classical town plan, which in­ northern European influences. The cluded parks, squares and most exemplary works are found in esplanades, was developed by Engel. Helsinki and include C. T. Hoijer's Ateneum· (1887) and Erottaja office Classical design has even earlier roots building (1889-91), K. A. Wrede's in Finnish architecture. The town commercial building on the halls at Porvoo (1764) (Figure 12) Esplanade ( 1888), and Gustaf and Rauma (1776), although quite Nystrom's House of Estates (1891). provincial in formal conception and Through this classicism, Finnish execution when compared to the buildings continued to reflect new works of fifty years later, indicates architectural developments on the the classicizing influence exported continent. from Sweden. The fortified town of Hamina, with its radial street plan Romanticism (1721), has a town hall (1798) I mean architecture whose young centered in its geometrical composi­ representatives have e·nthusiastically placed themselves in the service of tion that reflects pre-Engel Russian ''the new art, '' trying to create provincial architecture (Figure 13) . something not only new, but at least The manor houses on a number of in part Finnish New. 8 industrial estates exemplies the rural classicism found in Finland from the In the latter part of the nineteenth late seventeenth century (Figure 14), century a growth in national self­ including Louhisaari (1655), Sarvlax awareness occurred in Finland, and (1683), Fagervik (1773), Mustio other European countries. This na­ (1783), and Orisberg (1804). 6 These tionalism was partially based upon buildings are restrained in character, 14. Manor House, Fagervik industrial 16. Ostrobothnian farm house, now located an interest in searching for cultural modest in scope and execution, and estate, 1773. in the rural farm museum in Seinlljoki. origins. Throughout Europe na­ rural in context. Their common for­ 15. Church, Alajllrvi. tionalism was also fostered by the mal properties include simple political and social achievements ,geometrical forms topped by a man­ tendencies integrated with Finland's normative example (Figure 16) . ln represented in universal suffrage, sard or double-sloped saddleback traditional wooden building tech­ the early part of the nineteenth cen­ the establishment and growth of roof, appointed with a modest niques (Figure 15). Like their tury, single-story wooden houses democratic institutions, and the amount of ornamentation consisting predecessors from antiquity, these began to line the residential streets concomitant liberalism and primarily of pilasters, window sur­ crisply articulated buildings an­ in a number of cities, creating a con­ socialism in thought that accom­ rounds, pediments, and horizontal nounce being man-made through tinuous urban edge that provided a panied the industrial development. string coursing. their geometrical contrast with the strong sense of continuity and These achievements resulted in a primal forest. enclosure. Now considered typically sense of national focus and unity in a By making Neo-Classicism the of­ Finnish, it is a streetscape formed by number of countries. Because of the ficial architectural style of the new Beyond the execution of pubiic pavilion-shaped wooden houses pressures exerted by Czar Nicholas Grand Duchy's public buildings and works, Neo-Classicism affected . joined by fences and framed II' s russification program during the town plans, Engel and his Depart­ domestic architecture; basically by gateways. Simple buildings like the late 1890's, the Finns' desire for na­ ment of Public Building created a adding a patina of respectibility and farm houses were complemented tional self-assertion and political in­ Finnish architecture that achieved a gentility to rural farm dwellings and through the use of classical appoint­ dependence was intensified. Within level of refinement and execution wooden town houses. Thus, it pro­ ments. The majority of these urban the Finnish arts, this self-assertion contemporaneous with continental vided a stylistic consistency at both dwellings were executed in a manner and search for a national cultural developments. The unparalleled the public and residential scales in referred to as "wood Empire," and identity resulted in a style known as amount of production during the Finland's mid-nineteenth century examples can still be found in a National Romanticism. first half of the nineteenth century environments. Like their monumen­ number of older and smaller Finnish by the Department made the style tal models, the farm buildings ex­ cities. The Finns' interest in their tradi­ an integral part of the Finnish land­ hibit an overall geometric simplicity tional culture began as early as 1835 scape. Town halls, churches and bell in addition to being painted in From the mid-nineteenth century when Elias Lonnrot published the towers, and other public buildings bright colors (red and yellow ochre), until the emergence of National first edition of the Finnish national stood out in marked contrast to the with their classical appointments ac­ Romanticism some 50 years later, folk epic, the Kaleva/a. Published in lakes, granite outcroppings, and cented in white. These works being Finnish architecture maintained a Finnish, the poem became a focus birch and pine forest comprising of traditional wood construction, in­ Neo-Classical complexion. The pro­ for self-awareness and strengthened Finland's distinctive landscape. The dicate the ease with which Neo­ minent . stylistic idiom was nco­ the language's use :n cultured centralized domed church with Classicism was able to mesh with Renaissance (as it is termed by Fin­ circles. 9 The powerful, poetic im­ freestanding bell tower in Alajarvi is vernacular precedents; the typical nish architectural historians), which agery of the Kaleva/a, coupled with 16 exemplary of these classicizing Ostrobothnian farm house being a is characterized by its eclectic, the interest in developing a national form of artistic expression, provided heavily rusticated masonry surfaces, a profound source of inspiration for protruding log ends, and numerous Finnish artists. From the paintings textural variation in materials. of Akseli Gallen-Kallela to the works While the forms and images com­ of composer Jean Sibelius, and even­ prising National Romantic architec­ tually to architecture, National ture contained both national and in­ Romanticism had both artistic and ternational precedents, the or­ political impact. The political namentation featured motifs of a aspects of National Romanticism specifically national character de­ cannot be understated, for as rived from Finnish nature and Leonard Eaton has noted: folklore. Motifs included bears, ... the Finns fought hard against Rus­ squirrels and other animals at en­ sian oppression, and the artists played trances and portals; tree boughs, a leading role in the struggle. Sibelius pine cones and other flora as window wrote Finlandia for a patriotic occa­ sion: a national demonstration in aid surrounds; and the occasional of newspapermen who had lost their character from folklore sprinkled jobs when the Russians suppressed one here and there (Figure 18) . Lastly, a paper after another. It could scarcely general feature of the style was the have been anything other than soul­ desire to create integrated architec­ searching; the Russians forbade its performance as soon as they heard it tural ensembles, with artists and played. 10 craftsmen working with the architect to ensure that even the smallest Thus the cultural atmosphere in detail harmonized with the overall Finland at the turn of the twentieth building conception. A complete century was affected by political 19 work of art was intended, with the events in addition to the question of architecture exploiting the full whether Finnish would be recog­ potential of the pictorial and nized as the national language. decorative arts (Figure 19). These concerns had an impact upon architectural discussion, for as Ritva National Romanticism was an Tuomi has noted, the important adventurous admixture of elements question facing architects became which contained both national and ''the direction taken in the develop­ international sources of formal ex­ ment of national culture - was it pression, while simultaneously be­ necessary to lean on the west, or was ing a reaction to the eclecticism there some uniquely Finnish foun­ found in academic movements of dation to be found. " 11 While ar­ the day. For Finnish architects and chitectural discussion in Finland, as artists, national inspiration for the elsewhere at that time, was con­ style developed from several sources. cerned with the issue of what style to A primary model for its imagery and follow, there was also a concern expression came from rural farm regarding the qualities required for a complexes and traditional folk ar­ national architecture. chitecture. The buildings of the

Formally, National Romantic ar­ chitecture is characterized by several features (Figures 8, 17). It is pictur­ 17. · Lars Sonck, Cathedral, Tampere, esquely composed, with irregular 1902-07. asymmetrical plans and masses. Mass 18. Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen, Poh· and volume, rather than surface, are jola Insurance Company, Helsinki, 1901, entrance detail. emphasized. It also employs tactile 19. Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen, studio materials: granite or soapstone (left and villa, Hvittr!lsk, 1902, interior. uncut or often crudely dressed), 20. Log farmhouse from Karelia, now hand-molded or specially made located in the Seurasaari Museum. bricks, rough hewn logs, and 21. Akseli Gallen·Kallela, 'Kalela', Ruovesi, 1894-95. wooden siding, shingles, and roof­ ing tiles. Thus ragged and irregular building masses and profiles are complemented through the use of 21 17 Karelian region of southeastern (1902), the atelier-dwelling of the works were considered slightly too primitively decorated vaulting in the Finland, which was considered the architectural firm of Gesellius, Lind­ "Swedish" for the Finnish purist, medieval churches, and the in­ cradle of Finnish culture, was of par­ gren, Saarinen, is a romantic reinter­ but later gained credibility as part of terlocking log construction, detail­ ticular interest, for this folk architec­ pretation of the interior of the tradi­ a neo-gothic focus which occurred in ing and shingled roofs of the ture was believed to be an in­ tionallog house (Figure 19). Scandinavian ecclesiastical architec­ wooden country churches, provided heritance from the ancient days of ture. Medieval architecture was con­ an idiom that was reinterpreted by the Kaleva/a (Figure 20). It was As interest in the historical architec­ sidered a "northern" style, and the National Romantic architects in quite common for the leading artists tUre of Finland increased, medieval Finland's modest stone churches and an inventive and original manner. of the day - painters, composers church and castle architecture castles were significantly provincial Hvittrask is an excellent example of and architects - to journey to (Figure 4-5), as well as seventeenth for inclu ion as important stylistic a collage of images, associations, and Karelia to gain direct knowledge of and eighteenth-century wooden ur e , in addition co being materials synthesized to recall a the local handicraft and building church architecture (Figure 6), pro­ uicably pi ure que and romantic in variety of models (Figures 8,22). The traditions. These men hoped that vided additional inspiration £: r Fin­ image. Thee work were never lower walls are of partially plastered elements discovered in the coun­ nish archite ts. Originally the e opied. In t ad, the tone w rk and granite stonework, the upper por­ tryside would provide both the in­ tion i of log construction, and the spiration and techniques for a na­ r f i of pantiles and shingles. This tional architecture. This interest led ombinacion exemplifies the tactility to an ethnographic approach to the of National Romanticisms' material development of architectural form vo abulary. The plan of Lars Sonck' s and detail on the part of some Tampere Cathedral has corners designers. This approach was partial­ recalling the interlocking log con­ ly a vestige of the principles of struction technique of traditional historicism coupled with the desire folk buildings (Figure 23). to document the ''Finnishness'' of Finland's traditional folk architec­ William Morris and the English Arts ture. Simultaneously, it can be con­ and Crafts movement provided the sidered part of a generalized ap­ greatest foreign source of influence preciation of, and interest in, tradi­ for Finnish architects. The principles tional wooden vernacular buildings espoused by proponents of the Arts that was occurring among a number and Crafts movement - simplicity, of Scandinavian architects. This in­ utility, and honesty in expression of terest eventually led to a blending of materials - found sympathy among regional and provincial styles into a the Finns. The Finns' interest in the generalized "Nordic" imagery, a natural and handicrafted qualities of northern manifestation of the'' Swiss wood , hand-molded bricks, and Chalet'' style which occurred in the crudely cut' granite and soapstone, more forested regions on the was reinforced by the traditional continent. uses of these materials in medieval and folk architecture. These It is not surprising, due to this in­ materials could be used simply and terest in traditional vernacular honestly, and represented a simple buildings and complexes, that the tradition of handwork. Again, Hvit­ earliest examples of National trask becomes an example, as it Romantic architecture included ar­ demonstrates the influence of the tist studios, summer houses and 22 Arts and Crafts movement; and the suburban villas for the middle class. interior is comparable with the Akseli Gallen-Kallela's studiohouse works of Charles Mackintosh, M. H. "Kalela" (1894-95) (Figure 21) is an Baillie Scott and Charles F. A. early example, as are Lars Sonck's Voysey. own summer house in Finstrom (1894-95) and his design for 22. Gesellius, Lindgren and Saarinen, studio Another source which contributed to "Ainola" Oean Sibelius' house). and villa, Hvittrllsk, 1902. the international context of Finnish Combining the general formal 23. Lars Sonck, Cathedral, Tampere, 1902-07, plan. National Romanticism was the work characteristics mentioned above with of Henry Hobson Richardson. the particulars of Finnish vernacular Through the Swedish, German, and folk architecture, an imagery Austrian architectural periodicals emerged that became inextricably that were available in Finland, new associated with the new national developments in England and 18 style. The main hall of Hvittriisk 23 America were followed with great interest. Richardson's work especial­ [Frosterus:] To use archaic forms continued into the post-War years 4. Czar Alexander's paniCipation in the ly, with its heavy Romanesque in­ without real justification is as senseless and to today. In the late 193.0s development of Helsinki was partially due to spired masonry masses and detail­ as it would be to go around dressed in when Functionalism seemed to hold. his more general interest in architecture skins, eat with fingers, or shoot with coupled with his desire to bring Russia into· ing, provided a major influence on bow and arrow instead of rifle. sway, the dialogue continued when the mainstream of European architectural 13 Finnish architects of this period. • a reintroduction of vernacular of development. He and his successor, Nicholas Onni Tarjannes' Finnish National [Strenge/1:] In Finland we no longer romantic elements occurred (Figure I, brought foreign-trained architects to St. Theater (1899-1901) and Lars earn our living by hunting and 2). The dialogue continued a Petersburg to assist in creating the powerful fishing; floral ornamentation and neo-classic setting for the Russian capital. Sonck' s Tampere Cathedral bears - let alone other animals - are quarter of a century later in the (1902-07) (Figure 17) and Helsinki hardly representative of an age of dichotomized plan of ''Dipoli'' 5. Nils Erik Wickberg, Finnish Architecture Telephone Headquarters (1905) steam and electricity." (Figure 3) and other works by the (Helsinki: Otava Publishing Co., 1962), p. 21 . (Figure 24) are among numerous Pietilas. Thus the exaggerations of National 6. Finnish manor houses were pan of large Finnish works consciously indebted industrial estates, usually iron works, which to Richardson in their conception Romanticism gave way to a classiciz­ But it is necessary to end the discus­ developed during the late seventeenth cen­ and detail. ing tendency emergent throughout sion here, for as in the ending of the tury. The most comprehensive publication to date on these estates is: Asko Salokorpi, While National Romanticism Ruukinmi/jlJlJt (Early Industrial Milieu) (Helsinki:· Museum of Finnish Architecture, paralleled the Arts and Crafts move­ 1979). pp. 71. ment in England, and Art Nouveau, Secessionism and Jugendstil on the 7. Until recently, a great number of these Continent, it was simultaneously in­ wooden town houses were being torn down throughout Finland to make way for more strumental in the Finns defining progressive development. But recently, their national character and aspira­ resulting from legislation enacted in 1977, . tions. Despite its brief existence (ap­ preservation of these districts has begun, sav­ proximately two decades) National ing an important part of the Finnish urban environment from destruction. Romanticism was an inseparable ele­ 25. Hotel Tammer, Tampere. ment in the fin-de-sie'cle quest for Illustration Credits 8. Eliel Aspelin, in an essay appearing in Finnish national identity. Because of Museum of Finnish Architecture: 3, 4, 7, 10, Valvoja (1901), quoted in Ritva Tuomi, "On its ethnographic and material in­ 13, 14, 19, 21 , 22, and 23. the Search for a National Style," Abacus terest in the Finnish past, National 24. Lars Sonck, ne Building, All others, the author. (Helsinki: Museum of Finnish Architecture, Romanticism created new artifacts Helsinki, 1905. 1979). p. 57. which could act as a cultural focus. Scandinavia before the First World Kaleva/a, this is the beginning of 9. Finland now has rwo official languages, As the introduction of Neo­ War. Referred to as either "rational another chapter. As such, the bard Finnish and Swedish; but Finnish was not Classicism was associated with classicism'' or ''roman tic must have the last word: taught in the public schools or used in the universities until the close of the nineteenth Finland's being ceded to Russia, classicism," it became the predomi­ But let this be as it may be, century. Until then Swedish and Latin, or I have shown the way to singers, with its resultant political, historical, nant style found in Finland in the Russian, were the official ,languages. and social changes, National 1920s (Figures 1,9,25). This form of Showed the way, and broke the tree-tops, 10. Leonard K. Eaton, "Finnish Architec­ Romanticism is inextricably linked classicism is characterized by the use Cut the branches, shown the ture: Tradition and Development," Pro­ with the growth of Finnish na­ . of simply proportioned geometric pathways. gressive Architecture, April 1964, p . 156. tionalism cultural self-awareness, forms with sparsely decorated stucco This way therefore leads the pathway, Here the path lies newly opened, and quest for political In­ surfaces. These flat stucco surfaces 11. Ritva Tuomi, op. cit., p. 61. Widely opened for the singers, dependence. with their crisply modeled classical And for greater ballad singers, 12. Trips to the Karelian district were under­ appointments recall the Neo­ For the young, who now are growing, taken to document and record the wooden Classicism of Engel and Bassi. For the rising generation. Conclusion folk architecture and other cultural material Kaleva/a, L, 611-620 By the end of the first decade of the Despite their classical uniforms, from the region. This interest in the folk ar­ twentieth century, Finland's ar­ these buildings contain a number of chitecture of Finland led to the establishment chitecture had achieved an interna­ non-classical characteristics. The of the outdoor museum on the island of tional reputation as a result of Na­ plan order is often distorted, making Seurasaari by the National Board of Anti­ quities and Historical Monuments in 1909. tional Romanticism. But the style use of asymmetrical compositions Groups of buildings from every region of now seemed regressive, heavy and rather than symmetrical or axial NOTES Finland, which illustrate the typical local somber to young Finnish architects ones. A freer disposition of plan 1. John Summerson, The Classical Language culture, were brought to the rriuseum for who desired to generate a purer and elements occurs to accommodate of Architecture (Cambridge, Mass. : The preservation and display. both functional necessities and the M.I.T. Press, 1976), pp. 7-8. more rational form of expression. 13. Leonard K. Eaton, "Finnish Architec­ Sigurd Frosterus and Gustaf exigencies of context. These proper­ 2. Christian Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci: ture: the Richardsonian Phase," American Strengell, the leading polemicists of ties seem to be characteristic of Na­ Towards a Phenomonology of Architecture Architecture Comes of Age: European Reac­ this generation, criticized the win­ tional Romanticism, and point to (New York: Rizzoli, 1980), p. 69. tion to H. H. Richardson and Louis Sullivan ning competition entry for the the fact that Finnish architecture in (Cambridge, Mass.: The M.I.T. Press, 1972) 3. Rainer Knapas, "Eastern and Western pp. 176-207. Helsinki railroad station, denounc­ the 1920 s contained both classical Neoclassicisl;Il in finland,'' journal of the ing National Romanticism in the and romantic aspects. The two Society of Architectural Historians, XXXVIII 14. quoted in Nils Erik Wickberg, op. cit., p. process. became engaged in a dialogue that (May 1979), p. 128. 85. 19