Nikkilän sairaala-alue (Nickby sjukhusområde)

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 Nikkilä hospital area is a former psychiatric hospital area based on a unified plan, which reflects the design principles of hospital construction from the early phase of pavilion hospital construction onwards.

Nikkilä Hospital is located on a wooded hillock, in the middle of fields, on the east side of the Nikkilä built-up area, on the east bank of the Sipoonjoki river. The area consists of buildings of the former psychiatric hospital belonging to the City of Helsinki, built in several construction phases starting from the early years of the 20th century.

The building stock is grouped around a north-south central axis. In the northern part, where the entrance to the area is, are the administrative and residential buildings. In the central part are the common facilities, such as the library and club building and the dining hall, and on either side of them, in a curved formation, 11 patient pavilions. Service and agricultural buildings are placed more freely in the southern part of the area. Despite many construction phases and stylistic trends, the area forms a unified whole.

In the early 2000s, the Nikkilä hospital area was converted into a residential area named Itäinen Jokipuisto.

History

Before Nikkilä Hospital was established in Sipoo, there was a phase beginning in 1901 when more than 50 patients from the full mental illness wards of the Helsinki city poorhouse were placed in family care in Sipoo.

Medical considerations favoured locating the mental hospital in the countryside, where more space could be arranged for patients. Residence in a peaceful environment and suitable work in the open air were considered to have a beneficial effect on the course of mental illnesses.

Nikkilä Hospital was designed according to the pavilion hospital model, which was becoming common in Europe. The drawings for the hospital were prepared in 1909 by architect E.A. Kranck. The hospital buildings were placed in forest terrain: the north–south oriented administrative and economic buildings were in the central part, with the men's treatment pavilions to their east and the women's to the west. The first phase of the hospital was completed in 1914, after which it was extended in several phases, including in the 1920s and 1940s. In 1945 Nikkilä had 1100 beds. Hospital operations ended in 1999.