The villa Kleineh (also known in English as House of Adlercreutz) is an old villa in

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 ...

Kaivopuisto Kaivopuisto ( sv, Brunnsparken), nicknamed ''Kaivari'' in Finnish or ''Brunsan'' in Swedish, is one of the oldest and best known parks in central Helsinki, Finland, and also a neighbourhood of about 500 inhabitants where the park is located. Geo ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Nowadays it is the oldest villa in Kaivopuisto and the official residence of the

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to Finland. The building is located at Itäinen Puistotie 7 and was built for the

Ullanlinna (; sv, Ulrikasborg) is a city district of Helsinki, in Finland. The name ''Ullanlinna'' ( en, "Ulla's Castle") refers to the fortification line that was built at the southern edge of the area during the 18th century (no longer visible), as part ...

bath house guests. The lot was handed over in 1839 and the building is assumed to have been finished during the next year. It is unsure who the architect is, but some sources mention

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...

and his student

Jean Wik Jean may refer to: People * Jean (female given name) * Jean (male given name) * Jean (surname) Fictional characters * Jean Grey, a Marvel Comics character * Jean Valjean, fictional character in novel ''Les Misérables'' and its adaptations * Jean ...

. It has also been argued that C.A. Edelfelt was the architect, but at the time the building was being finished, Edelfelt hadn't started his career yet. The "Bath- and wellhouse" corporation by Viktor Hartwall, A.W. Astenius and J.A. Decker took the initiative of building the house.Merisalo, 2001 They let it to guests of the bathhouses during summers. In 1857 restaurateur Louis Kleineh bought the house for personal use and it remained family property until 1928. From that time on the house is being called "Villa Kleineh". The architecture of the house was representative of the

Empire style The Empire style (, ''style Empire'') is an early-nineteenth-century design movement in architecture, furniture, other decorative arts, and the visual arts, representing the second phase of Neoclassicism. It flourished between 1800 and 1815 durin ...

. This was further expanded by Jean Wik in 1858 and Theodor Decker in 1872. More modifications have been made during the years 1882, 1889 and 1914. In 1928 the director of Nobel Standard, Leopold Lerche, bought the villa. During the next year he had Birger Bederley make more and larger modifications than ever before. During that time Villa Kleineh got its classicist look that it now still has. Lerche died in 1929 and in 1954 the family of his widow's children inherited the villa. Their family name was

Adlercreutz Adlercreutz () is the surname of a Swedish and Finnish noble family. Overview Its oldest known ancestor is Swedish speaking Finn, Erik Markusson, dead 1654, who was a farmer in Biskops, Iso-Teutari, Lohja, Uusimaa, Finland. His son Tomas Erikss ...

and for that reason the villa got its second name "Villa Adlercreutz". After the Second World War the villa was in use of the British delegation of the

Allied Commission Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...

. The villa and its garden are protected from 1965 on. After the passing away in 1989 of the last resident of the villa, Henrik Adlercreutz, the building became property of a developer and it remained mostly empty. The later owner Merita-bank let the villa in 1998 as a residence to the ambassador of the Netherlands. Two years later it was sold to the Netherlands state. The ambassador is a resident of the villa since November 1999. In the movie "Kaivopuiston kaunis Regina" (1941) the house functions as the summer house of monarch Popoff. According to local ghost traditions, the ghost of Kleineh's second wife, Maria Kleineh (maiden name Maria Kristina Forsell) still roams through Villa Kleineh and Kaivopuisto.Pehkonen, 2001, p. 78 – 79

Sources

Literature

* ''Villa Kleineh: van zomerverblijf voor badgasten tot Nederlandse residentie''. Helsingin kaupunginmuseo, 2001. . ** Merisalo, Tiina: "De bouwgeschiedenis van Villa Kleineh", p. 60–71. ** Pehkonen, Marja: "Louis Kleineh, een onvergetelijke gastheer", p. 76–79.

References

{{coord, 60.1578, N, 24.9584, E, source:wikidata, display=title Buildings and structures in Helsinki Kaivopuisto Kleineh