Harjukadun, Onnelantien ja Kymintien pientaloalueet sekä Karjalankadun pienkerrostalot

English translation (from the Finnish)

The text above is the record as published by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), in Finnish. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto); it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

The uniform small houses and small apartment blocks built in the 1920s and 1930s along Karjalankatu, Kymintie and Onnelantie, as well as Harjukatu, reflect the progressive planning principles of their era and the ideals of English-derived garden city construction in Lahti, the youngest city in the country, which grew strongly. The street views and the details of the building stock have retained their original scale, uniformity and details exceptionally well.

The construction of Karjalankatu, Kymintie and Onnelantie is based on the amendment to the town plan for the eastern parts of Lahti, the Paavola district, drawn up in 1927 by Viipuri architect Otto-Iivari Meurman. The western part of Harjukatu took shape according to the plan amendment of 1936 drawn up by city architect Kaarlo Könönen, which was based on Meurman's plan for the western parts of Lahti from 1931.

Kymintie is the only street of old Paavola on which the original building stock has survived in its entirety.

Along Karjalankatu the buildings are small apartment blocks. The outbuildings are at the back of the green garden plots. In line with Meurman's plan, the houses in the middle of the block have gabled roofs, and the houses at the street corners have hipped roofs. The building drawings are mainly the work of Lahti master builders. The houses represent modest classicism. The building stock dates mainly from the late 1930s and the 1940s.

The building stock of Onnelantie dates mainly from 1928-1936. The plan of Onnelantie shows the English-derived garden city ideology of the turn of the century, of which Meurman was a strong advocate. About half of the houses were designed by Lahti master builder Artturi Ekström. Other designers include master builders Kustaa Kourula and Emil Laine, among others. The area was built on a steep slope, so that the houses on the side of the ridge are placed behind front gardens, and the houses on the north side stand directly on the street line. The one-and-a-half-storey buildings represent unadorned classicism. Typical features are fairly steep gabled roofs, light-coloured facades and multi-pane windows. The large houses contain several dwellings. At the western end of the street, a former classicist prayer house of the Firstborn Laestadians, located in the middle of a garden, closes the street.

Along Harjukatu, the two-storey, gabled residential buildings for two families stand directly on the street line, with gardens and outbuildings behind the houses.

The Lahti Orthodox Church, completed in 1955 and designed by architect Toivo Paatela, is a building of architectural and cultural-historical value that forms a significant townscape end to Harjukatu. Elia Church in Viipuri was used as the model for the design. The church contains an exceptionally large number of objects from the churches of lost Karelia.

History

Viipuri architect Otto-Iivari Meurman drew up the 1927 amendment to the town plan for the eastern parts of the city of Lahti. In the Paavola district, small apartment blocks designed mainly by Lahti master builders were built along Kymintie in 1928-1936, and along Karjalankatu and Onnelantie in the late 1930s and the 1940s.

The Paavola area was laid out as a uniform, regular suburb. According to the garden city ideology, the green belts of the buildings on the north side of the street are behind the houses, and on the south side of the street they are in front of the buildings. Kymintie was built uniformly immediately after architect Otto-Iivari Meurman's plan was confirmed, in 1928-1936. Lahti master builders, including Artturi Ekström, designed the buildings on the basis of standard drawings prepared by Professor Carolus Lindberg.

Karjalankatu and Onnelantie were also built on the basis of the plan amendment drawn up by architect Meurman in 1927. The houses on Onnelantie were built in 1928-1936. Lahti master builders such as Artturi Ekström, Kustaa Kourula and Emil Laine designed the houses. The small apartment blocks on Karjalankatu were built in the late 1930s and the 1940s, and their designers were Lahti master builders such as Artturi Ekström, Vilho Kivinen and Toivo Mäkinen.

Meurman planned the western parts of Lahti in 1931. The amendment to the town plan for the western part of Harjukatu was drawn up in 1936 by city architect Kaarlo Könönen. Most of the small houses at the western end of Harjukatu were built in 1937-38 according to the designs of master builder Paavo Leiskallio.