Lahden kaupungintalo, kauppatori ja Mariankadun seremonia-akseli

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 Mariankatu ceremonial axis, based on the 1878 town plan of the market town of Lahti, is unique in its topography. Its monumental terminations are the town hall and the church, with the market square in the centre.

The core of Lahti is based on the market town's town plan, in which the main streets of the composition are Aleksanterinkatu and Mariankatu, which crosses it at right angles. The ends of Mariankatu are situated on the ridges that cut across the town. In the middle of the ceremonial axis of Mariankatu, at the lowest point of the terrain, lies the market square. Today the other monumental termination of the street is the town hall designed by Eliel Saarinen and completed in 1912, and the other termination is the Ristinkirkko church designed by Academician Alvar Aalto and completed in 1978.

Lahti town hall is located on the slope of the Salpausselkä ridge, at the highest point of the built-up centre of the town. Designed by Eliel Saarinen, the town hall represents late Jugend in style. The building's facade material is dark-burnt brick. On the Mariankatu side, the composition is dominated by a stepped tower; on the Harjukatu side, the council chamber is emphasised, its windows massively framed with copper decoration. The building's architecture has similarities with both the Helsinki railway station and the Joensuu town hall. According to the architectural thinking at the turn of the century, the interiors of the town hall were designed to match the exterior architecture. The interiors use strong Jugend colours and natural ornaments. Much of the furniture and lighting was drawn by Saarinen. The extension from the 1930s, designed by city architect Kaarlo Könönen, was executed in the spirit of Saarinen.

Large residential and commercial buildings line the market square, and Alatori park forms, together with them, a town space of multiple layers in time, whose representative building stock includes buildings from the early 20th century up to the Starckjohann and Pankinportti commercial buildings, which represent the post-war reconstruction period.

History

The town planning of the Lahti area began after the village of Lahti was almost entirely destroyed by fire on 19 June 1877. The urban project that had been planned did not materialise, and Lahti became a market town in 1878. In the same year, provincial architect Alfred Caween drew up a town plan comprising 22 blocks, a typical rectangular grid layout of the Empire period. The plan area forms the present-day central district of the city of Lahti.

The street network of the Empire-period plan was based on a hierarchy. The main street of the market town was Aleksanterinkatu, which was located roughly on the site of the medieval-origin Ylinen Viipurintie, the road between Turku and Viipuri. Maariankatu was laid out at right angles to the main street, and at the centre of the layout was the Kauppatori market square, which was exceptionally large in area. On the north side of the square, at the end of Maariankatu, the plan included a church, and to the south a cemetery. The plan reserved a site for the City Hall or another public building in the block on the west side of the Kauppatori market square.

The city of Lahti was founded in 1905, and planning for the construction of the City Hall began in 1906. An invitation competition for the design of the City Hall was held in 1910. The competition was won by architect Eliel Saarinen, who had also won the design competition for the City Hall of Joensuu. On the recommendation of architect Armas Lindgren, it was decided to site the City Hall at the far end of the ceremonial axis of Maariankatu, as the terminal feature of the street and the dominant element of the urban landscape, on the site of the cemetery planned in Caween's plan. The City Hall was completed in 1912, and a side wing drawn by city architect Kaarlo Könönen was added in 1934. Saarinen also designed the City Hall park, but it was ultimately carried out as trimmed by city gardener Johan Laurila. The City Hall was damaged in the war of 1918; in 1939 an incendiary bomb hit the building, and in 1981 the building suffered a fire. The restoration of the City Hall was completed in 1985.

The block on the west side of the Kauppatori market square remained unused after the City Hall was built. The Alatori park and the Starckjohann commercial building were constructed on the block in 1950.

The other terminal of Maariankatu was already the site of the church in the market town's town plan drawn up by Caween. The first church was built in 1890. Already in the 1920s the church proved too small. The old wooden church was demolished in 1977, and academician Alvar Aalto designed the new church. Ristinkirkko was completed in 1978. Kirkkopuisto is the oldest park in Lahti. The church square that had existed in the grid plan was transformed into a church park in keeping with the urban planning ideals of the time. Architect Alvar Aalto wished the park to remain in its original state, and so it happened.