Lasipalatsi (; meaning literally "glass palace") is a functionalist office building designed in the 1930s, located on

Mannerheimintie Mannerheimintie () (previously known as ''Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Henrikinkatu'', ''Läntinen ja Itäinen Heikinkatu'', ''Turuntie'', ''Läntinen viertotie'', ''Heikinkatu''), colloquially known as Mansku, named after the Finni ...

in the

Kamppi Kamppi () is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, neighbourhood in the centre of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The name originally referred to a small area known as the "Kamppi field" (see below), but according to the current official d ...

district of

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Lasipalatsi is one of Helsinki's most notable functionalist buildings.

History

An earlier building at the same location was the Turku barracks, which was destroyed in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War was a civil war in Finland in 1918 fought for the leadership and control of the country between Whites (Finland), White Finland and the Finnish Socialist Workers' Republic (Red Finland) during the country's transition fr ...

in 1918. Lasipalatsi, designed by three young architects

Viljo Revell Viljo Gabriel Revell (25 January 1910 – 8 November 1964) was a Finnish architect of the functionalist school. In Finland he is best known for the design of the Lasipalatsi ("Glass Palace") and Palace Hotel, both in Helsinki. Internationally ...

, Heimo Riihimäki and Niilo Kokko, was built on the same site in 1936. Lasipalatsi, containing

office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

s and a

film theatre A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...

, was originally designed as a temporary building, later to be torn down to allow a larger office building to be constructed in its place. The Varuboden grocery, Oy Siemens AB and the HOK

ice cream bar An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert featuring ice cream on a stick. The confection was patented in the US in the 1920s, with one invalidated in 1928. Description An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert on a stick. It features ice cream, disti ...

were Lasipalatsi's most prominent businesses for decades. At the time of its opening, the film theatre Bio Rex was one of the biggest film theatres in the city, and many formal premieres of Finnish films were shown there. The original plans to tear down Lasipalatsi were postponed decade after decade, but the building also wasn't renovated, because its final fate was still left open. In the 1980s, large sheets advertising the Ale Pub underlined the shameful state of the worn building. Only when the Board of Construction set a threat fee, the Apartment Bureau renovated the building's outer walls. In summer 1985, the old grayish paint was replaced with through-coloured white mortar. Helsinkians opposed the destruction of the building several times, and the Museum Bureau also supported its protection. After decades of deterioration, Lasipalatsi was protected and renovated into a culture and media centre in 1998, also containing

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

s and many corporations in the media business. The building also hosted

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

services and exhibition halls. The

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

Morning TV used to be broadcast from Lasipalatsi, and next to it was the Yle Shop. The film theatre Bio Rex is specialised in showing non-mainstream cultural films. Lasipalatsi has been included in the selection of Finnish masterpieces of modernism in architecture by the

Docomomo International Docomomo International (sometimes written as DoCoMoMo or simply Docomomo) is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement. ...

organization. The building is undergoing extensive renovations as of October 2016. A new museum,

Amos Rex Amos Rex is an art museum named after the publisher and arts patron Amos Anderson and located in Lasipalatsi, on Mannerheimintie boulevard in Helsinki, Finland. It opened in 2018 and rapidly reached international popularity, attracting more tha ...

, has been built under the Lasipalatsi square with some parts of the museum residing in Lasipalatsi.

Gallery

Image:Lasipalatsi cafe.jpg, Café, ground floor Image:Lasipalatsi interior.jpg, Staircase

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline, Lasipalatsi
Lasipalatsi home page
Office buildings completed in 1936 1936 establishments in Finland Buildings and structures in Helsinki Streamline Moderne architecture Modernist architecture in Finland Kamppi

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links