![Lart nouveau à Helsinki limmeuble Pohjola (7624127520)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Lart_nouveau_%C3%A0_Helsinki_limmeuble_Pohjola_%287624127520%29.jpg)
The Pohjola Insurance building is the former headquarters of the Pohjola Insurance Company at
Aleksanterinkatu
Aleksanterinkatu ( sv, Alexandersgatan; "Alexander Street") is a street in Kluuvi, the commercial centre of Helsinki, Finland. In the city plan by Carl Ludvig Engel, it was the ''Decumanus Maximus'', the main east–west street in the city, cross ...
44 and Mikonkatu 3 in central
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
. Primarily designed by
Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen and constructed in 1899–1901, it is a prominent example of Finnish
national romantic
Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...
architecture. It was acquired in 1972 by
Kansallis-Osake-Pankki
Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (KOP) was a Finnish commercial bank operating from 1889 to 1995. It was created by the fennoman movement as a Finnish language alternative to the largely Swedish language bank, Suomen Yhdyspankki (''Swedish: Föreningsbank ...
, now succeeded by
Nordea
Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a European financial services group operating in northern Europe and based in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive m ...
.
Background
The Pohjola Insurance Company (precursor of
OP Financial Group
OP Financial Group is one of the largest financial companies in Finland. It consists of 180 cooperative banks and their central organization. “OP” stands for “osuuspankki” in Finnish, literally meaning “cooperative bank”. The financi ...
) was founded in 1891 and specialised in fire insurance. They held a competition for the design of their headquarters, which would also house another
Fennomane insurance company, Kullervo, with the specification that the building must be of fire-resistant stone. Based on the submissions, they commissioned Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen to design the exteriors and major interior spaces, but Ines and Ernst A. Törnvall were responsible for the plans.
[Jonathan Moorhouse, Michael Carapetian and Leena Ahtola-Moorhouse, ''Helsinki Jugendstil architecture, 1895–1915'', Helsinki: Otava, 1987, , pp. 108–09.][Eeva Järvenpää, "Kämp palasi yli 30 vuoden jälkeen takaisin Antiloopin kortteliin", '']Helsingin Sanomat
''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...
'', 20 May 2006, .[''Finland'', ed. Marja-Riitta Norri, Elina Standertskjöld and Wilfried Wang, tr. Hildi Hawkins et al., 20th-Century Architecture 7, Munich/London/New York: Prestel, 2000, , pp. 30–31, 153.]["Vakuutusyhtiö Pohjolan talo: Suomalaisuus arkkitehtuurissa"]
Virtuaalinen Arkkitehtuurikävely, Avoin Yliopisto pen University University of Helsinki
The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...
, retrieved 11 May 2016 . It was the first commercial building by Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen.
Building
The building is national romantic in style, with façades of rough-hewn soapstone, red granite and
serpentine decorated with sculptures of vegetation, squirrels, and figures from ''
Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' ( fi, Kalevala, ) is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling an epic story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and r ...
'',
[ and on the street corner a tower with a pinecone-shaped roof.][Jeremy Howard, (1996). ''Art Nouveau: International and National Styles in Europe'', Manchester / New York: Manchester University, 1996, ]
p. 177
When it was built, a reviewer dwelt on its "Finnish-naturalistic" style, but in form the exterior may have been influenced by contemporary American buildings: Henry Hobson Richardson
Henry Hobson Richardson, FAIA (September 29, 1838 – April 27, 1886) was an American architect, best known for his work in a style that became known as Richardsonian Romanesque. Along with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, Richardson is one ...
's Cheney Building
The R. and F. Cheney Building, also known as the Brown Thomson Building, is a commercial building designed by noted American architect H. H. Richardson. It is located at 942 Main Street, Hartford, Connecticut, and is now on the National Register ...
similarly uses a corner tower, and the use of windows resembles that in Louis Sullivan
Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...
's Auditorium Building
The Auditorium Building in Chicago is one of the best-known designs of Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler. Completed in 1889, the building is located at the northwest corner of South Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive. The building was de ...
.[ Another Finnish architect, ]Bertel Jung
(Axel) Bertel Jung (11 July 1872 — 12 May 1946) was a Finnish architect and urban planner, notable as Finland's first official zoning architect and a pioneer in the field of city planning.
Early life and education
Axel Bertel Jung was born i ...
, criticised the romantic elements as embodying "primitive, partially crude and untamed force".[Roger Connah, ''Finland: Modern Architectures in History'', London: Reaktion, 2005, ]
n.p.
Other reviewers praised it for its comparability to buildings in other countries and to their use of ornament.
Lindgren, the member of the firm who appears to have been most attached to national romanticism, greatly influenced the ornamentation of this building. The main entrance, designed by Hilda Flodin
Hilda Flodin (16 March 1877 – 9 March 1958) was a Finnish artist. She worked in a variety of media, but in the first part of her career primarily sculpture and etchings, later primarily painting, especially portraits.
Life and career
Flodin w ...
, a pupil of Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
, is flanked by the names of the two insurance companies, both from ''Kalevala'', and by devils, monsters or trolls;[Riitta Nikula, tr. Malcolm Hicks, ''Wood, Stone and Steel: Contours of Finnish Architecture'', Helsinki: Otava, 2005, ]
p. 103
bears, the symbol of the insurance company, top the pilasters and also appear in the interior decoration.[ Because the mouths of the Pohjola characters are slightly open, passers-by sometimes leave cigarette butts in their mouths as a prank.
The door itself is deeply recessed under an arch, and the vestibule continues the allusion to medieval architecture, with vaulting and with carved animals topping pillars.][ The rest of the interior also used rustic and folklore motifs, with doorways by Erik O. W. Ehrström, iron wheel chandeliers by G. W. Sohlberg, and a circular main stairway with a cast-iron banister with pine-tree motifs; the newel posts and the benches on the landings were carved wood depicting fern leaves and, again, trolls, and the stained glass featured ferns and owls.][ The service hall on the first floor was given red pine panelling and a central pillar styled to resemble a tree trunk. However, it has a steel core; behind the façades the building is brick with structural steel and from the start had Swedish-made lifts as well as an electrical generator.][ The structural engineer was Elia Heikel, who was also working at the time on the ]Lundqvist Building
The Lundqvist Building is a former department store in the Kluuvi district of central Helsinki, Finland. It is located at the intersection of Aleksanterinkatu and Mikonkatu streets. Until the end of 2020, it housed the Aleksi 13 department sto ...
opposite, which is seen as the first modern commercial building in Finland.[Norri, Standertskjöld and Wang, eds., pp. 152–53; according to this source, the building is supported by floor-to-ceiling columns of cast iron, not steel.]
Uses
The building originally had flats on the upper three floors.[ It was acquired in 1972 by Kansallis-Osake-Pankki, a bank which has subsequently been merged to form Nordea, but until 1987 Pohjola Insurance still had some customer service operations in the building. The customer service hall has since then been used as banqueting space.][ The tobacconist's Havanna-Aitta has been in the ground-floor commercial space for decades.][
]
Gallery
References
External links
{{Coord, 60, 10, 07.5, N, 24, 56, 44.9, E, display=title
National Romantic architecture in Finland
Art Nouveau architecture in Helsinki
Office buildings completed in 1901