The Ridou Report: Helsinki Railway Station

Showing posts with label Helsinki Railway Station. Show all posts

Sunday, November 20, 2011

When in Helsinki, Finland, all you mid-century design enthusiasts should pay a

visit to Eero Saarinen's childhood home just outside Helsinki (my last time there

was two years ago - my Helsinki Railway Station photos further down are from

last year). Hvitträsk, which is a museum now (see their website here), was built

by Eero's father, the renown architect Eliel Saarinen, with two other prominent

turn of the century Helsinki architects, for their family homes as well as studios.

Everything in this large house was designed by the architects themselves,

including Eero's cot below. Well, actually, I'm not quite sure if it was Eero's, it

could have belonged to his sister Pipsan.

Eero was thirteen years old when the family moved to the States in 1923.

Eero Saarinen's Cot?
(image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sameli/sets/72157622328948017/)
.

Eero Saarinen, TWA Terminal Building, Kennedy Airport, New York
.

Hvitträsk
.

Hvitträsk, children's room
.

Hvitträsk, part of the living area
.

Eliel Saarinen, Helsinki Railway Station (1909)
.

Eliel Saarinen, Helsinki Railway Station
.

The first railway station in Helsinki was built in 1860, as Finland's first railway

between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna was opened. The station's plans were drawn

by the Swedish architect Carl Albert Edelfelt. However, as the popularity of

railways grew, the station turned out to be too small, and a contest was

organised in 1904 with the intention of producing plans for a new station. The

contest received 21 entries, and was won by Eliel Saarinen, with a pure national

romanticist design, which sparked off a vigorous debate about the architecture of

major public buildings, with demands for a modern, rational style. Saarinen

himself abandoned romanticism altogether and re-designed the station

completely. The new design was finished in 1909 and the station was opened in

1919.

wikipedia