Hvitträsk is a

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word ''manse'' originally defined a property l ...

complex in

Kirkkonummi Kirkkonummi (; , , Sweden ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Kirkkonummi is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kirkkonummi is approximately . It is the most populous Mu ...

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, ...

, about west 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 ...

. It was designed as a studio home by the members of the Finnish architecture firm

Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen was a Finnish architecture firm, founded in Helsinki in 1896 by architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen. They achieved international recognition with their design for the Finnish pavilion ...

, later becoming the private residence of

Eliel Saarinen Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was a Finnish and American Architecture, architect known for his work with Art Nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century. He was also the father of famed architect Ee ...

. It operated as a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

until 2024, when it was closed due to budget cuts by

Petteri Orpo Antti Petteri Orpo (; born 3 November 1969) is a Finland, Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023 and as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He briefly served as speaker of the Parliame ...

's government affecting the

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency (, ), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a cultural and research institutio ...

Description

The development was started when the plot was purchased by the company in 1901. The construction was mostly completed by 1903. The house was named after Lake , beside which it was built. itträsk literally means ''White Lake.'' Today Hvitträsk is a museum open to the public. The red-roofed manor structure facing the lake is the main museum building, and the brownish structure separated on the other side by a yard is the cafeteria. There is also a smaller sauna down by the lake. In 1922 Lindgren's home in the north side partially burned down. Eliel Saarinen's son

Eero Saarinen Eero Saarinen (, ; August 20, 1910 – September 1, 1961) was a Finnish-American architect and industrial designer who created a wide array of innovative designs for buildings and monuments, including the General Motors Technical Center; the pa ...

designed a new building in its place in 1929–33.

Gallery

Featured in publications

*''Moderne Bauformen'' 6, no. 4 (1907): 159–62;8, no. 8 (1909): 350, 353. *''Hemma och Ute'' 3, (August 1913): 210–14; 3 (September 1913): 234–5. *''American Architect and Architectural Review'' 124 (September 26, 1923): 19 pls. *''Arkkitehti'' nos. 11–12 (1943): 24. *''Architectural Review'' 139 (February 1966): 152–54. *''Space Design'' no. 133 (September 1975): 91–94 *''Connaissance des Arts'' no. 238 (December 1971): 108–13, 192. *''New York Times'' 13 February 1966, VI, p. 64.

References

External links

Hvitträsk
- official site * Houses in Finland Kirkkonummi Museums in Uusimaa Historic house museums in Finland National Romantic architecture in Finland Buildings designed by Eliel Saarinen {{Finland-struct-stub