Ihantola

Kallio, Helsinki’s solid, working-class neighborhood, closed out the nineteenth century with a reputation for labor and socialist movements. Recognizable by its uniform, wooden, low-rise housing, it would have seemed like a preposterous location to deposit a building evocative of a modern-day castle. But at the dawn of the 1900s, that’s precisely what Kallio received.

Ihantola, or “Wonderful Place,” was designed by master builder O. E. Koskinen. This cake of a housing building introduced art-nouveau apartments to the capital city, while raising the bar for architectural aesthetics and standards of comfortable living for the city’s working class.

But its interior wasn’t quite as palatial as it appeared from the outside: the units were tiny, and only half had the luxury of their own bathrooms, while the other occupants shared facilities on each floor. And yet the structure was still a point of pride.

Its early years saw tumult on the streets of Kallio— as Russification was reintroduced and resisted, and Finnish independence ultimately declared. Though originally painted a less eye-catching yellow, Ihantola remained a striking marvel to behold, with intricate ornamentation and green turrets contributing to its fairy-tale appearance. In 1981, the building was refurbished and bathrooms were added to every unit. Finally, it received the pastel-pink facade it had always deserved—living up to its namesake as a place of wonder.

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