Vaasan keskuspuistikot ja palokadut (Vasa stads esplanader och brandgator)

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 five central esplanades of Vaasa are intersecting esplanades running across the town, and the squares between them hold public landmark buildings set in park surroundings and terminating the streets. Narrow firebreak streets cut through the blocks of the town. The central esplanades and the firebreak streets derive from the 1855 town plan of Vaasa by the provincial architect C.A. Setterberg, which marks a turning point in the planning of the wooden towns of 19th-century Finland and provides a well-preserved framework for present-day Vaasa.

On Vaasa's wide esplanades, known as puistikot, rows of trees stand between the streets. Kauppapuistikko and Kirkkopuistikko run north to south, and Hovioikeudenpuistikko, Vaasanpuistikko and Korsholmanpuistikko cross them from east to west. The public landmark buildings built between Hovioikeudenpuistikko and Vaasanpuistikko after the mid-19th century are the red-brick Lutheran church, representing the Neo-Gothic style, the city hall, and the former town hall, which has neo-Renaissance features.

The firebreak streets are part of the fire-prevention measures of Setterberg's town plan, together with the esplanades and other green areas. The firebreak streets divide the blocks in a north-south direction, running parallel to one another. In many places they have survived as a functioning part of the urban structure.

History

The town of Vaasa was moved to its present site, further inland on the mainland, after the old Vaasa that had stood there was destroyed by fire in 1852. The town plan for the new town was approved in 1855. It was drawn up by Carl Axel Setterberg, provincial architect of Vaasa. The career of this Swedish-born architect was centred on the rebuilding of Vaasa. New Vaasa, at that time Nikolainkaupunki, was Setterberg's creation in the same way that the capital Helsinki was the creation of C.L. Engel.

Setterberg's plan broke away from the principles created in the 1828 town plan of Turku, which had been in general use and which were still recorded in the general building regulations for towns in 1856. Setterberg wanted to tighten the spaciousness of the Empire-period town plans, which resulted from large blocks and plots, wide streets, low building and fairly wide fire lanes. Setterberg laid out for Vaasa a more compact urban structure, in which two-storey stone houses were to stand along the main streets and two-storey wooden houses along the narrower side streets. The fire lanes dividing the blocks were made narrow. Between the crossing esplanades, Hovioikeudenpuistikko and Vaasanpuistikko, he created a series of squares and placed public buildings there, standing freely in park settings. On the waterfront a free-form park was created, in which the monumental main buildings of the two esplanades were placed. These features were elements of a compact and modern town in Finland.

Deciduous trees were planted on the esplanades, the first birches on Kirkkopuistikko and Kauppapuistikko in 1859. Lime, maple and elm trees were also planted. Gaps had to be left between the rows of trees for fire lanes, according to the town building regulations confirmed in 1856. Plans of the 1850s that structured the boulevard streets were also drawn by the architect G.Th. Chiewitz for Uusikaupunki and Maarianhamina.

The red-brick church of the Vaasa town parish was built in Kirkkopuisto. The long church (pitkäkirkko), representing neo-Gothic in style, was built in stages in 1859 and 1862-1867 under Setterberg's direction. The adjacent town hall was built in 1860-1864 to plans drawn up at the Intendentinkonttori. It was later converted into a lyceum and raised to three storeys. The city hall on the other side of the church was built in 1878-83, designed by M. Isaeus.