Oulujoen suistoalueen historiallinen kokonaisuus

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 point where the Oulujoki river meets the sea includes one of the historically most significant areas of the City of Oulu. The Oulujoki estuary area is extensive and is characterised by a diverse industrial building stock, a hydroelectric power station and a park zone along the riverbanks. The island structure of the estuary has arisen through land uplift.

The earthworks of Oulu Castle on Linnasaari island in the Oulujoki are the oldest built layer at the river mouth.

On Pikisaari, just in front of the town's shoreline, a small area forms a concentration of diverse industrial history and of urban residence of pilots and industrial workers. The main street that runs through the island is lined with dense residential plots. In the middle of the island are buildings of a former machine works, a newer school of arts and crafts, and an old distillery with its storehouses and cellars. Remains of the Pikiruukki ironworks are on the north shore of the island. Most of the present buildings date from around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The park zone of the Oulujoki estuary consists of several islands separated from one another by narrow watercourses. In front of Hupisaaret are remains of salmon weirs and of a tar-boat towpath embanked as a bypass channel. The Hupisaaret islands have been a recreation area for townspeople since the late 19th century. The Ainola building of 1931, designed by architect Oiva Kallio, houses the North Ostrobothnia Museum. Also connected to the Hupisaaret park zone are the buildings of Åström's leather factory in the old Myllytulli industrial area. The former Åström glue factory today houses the Oulu Art Museum, and the factory's power station houses the science centre Tietomaa. Åström Park and the adjacent Villa Rauhala, built in the 1890s by the Åström family, are also linked with industrial history. Bordering Åström Park is the former Oulu Girls' Lyceum (1901), designed by architect Jac. Ahrenberg.

Sairaalasaari, now connected to the Hupisaaret park area, has, as its name suggests, been in hospital use since the 1830s, when a provincial hospital was located there in the buildings of the former crown distillery. The hospital island was in military use until 1999, and its building stock is mainly from the 19th century. The main building of the military hospital dates from the mid-19th century; the so-called Kilstupa is from the early 19th century; the brick headquarters building is from 1922; and the former psychiatric ward is from 1879.

On the north shore of the Oulujoki is the area of the Oulu city hospital, the so-called Tuiran puisto, built to plans drawn up by architect Magnus Schjerfbeck in 1896. In the pine forest area are a dozen or so buildings belonging to the hospital, dating from 1898-1925. The internal medicine ward and infectious diseases hospital, known as Ruttola, designed by Magnus Schjerfbeck, was completed in 1901, and the chief physician's residence and the neurological hospital, known as Hermola, to drawings by V.J. Sucksdorff, in 1907. The maternity hospital designed by Otto F. Holm remained in its original use until 1975. The buildings of the area have been renovated for use by social and health services.

Adjacent to Tuiran puisto are the buildings of the state deaf school, built by the state at the beginning of the 20th century, which were designed in 1902 by Th. Granstedt, architect of the Board of Public Buildings.

The landscape of the Oulujoki estuary area is dominated by Koskikeskus, which came into being in the 1940s in connection with the construction of the Merikoski power station. The building of the Merikoski power station has decisively changed the appearance of the estuary area. The power station and its lamella-structured dam are highly impressive in the landscape. The dam serves as one of the bridges crossing the Oulujoki. In addition, elements of Koskikeskus include canals and the high point blocks on Toivoniemi island, built to Alvar Aalto's master plan. Aalto's Koskikeskus plan also forms the basis for the sports stadium on Raatti island and the transport routes.

History

Oulu Castle was built on an island at the mouth of the Oulujoki river in the 1590s. The town was founded in 1605, by order of Kaarle IX, "on the mainland opposite the castle" on the site of an old trading place. The castle was destroyed in the 18th century. The present wooden building was built in 1873 as an observatory on top of the stone part of the former chancellery building.

Pikisaari had shipbuilding activity in the 17th century, and from the middle of the 18th century a pikiruukki operated there. Pikisaari had the first engineering works in Northern Finland, a distillery in the 1840s-1890s, and a woollen mill (now art and craft school). As a result of land uplift, Pikisaari has grown together with the neighbouring Korkiasaari. Shipbuilding and sawmilling were also carried on there in the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century.

The factory building of the leather factory of Veljekset Åström Oy, which began operations in the 1860s, was completed in 1907 and designed by architect Karl Sandelin. The water tower and power station were completed in 1921-1923, designed by architect Birger Federley. The factory ceased production in 1960.

Before the power station was built, Merikoski had salmon weirs and a towing route for tar boats. An area on the river bank was reserved for the Merikoski power station and canal as early as 1914, in the Tuira town plan drawn up by Bertel Jung. An architectural competition for the construction of the power station was held in 1942, after which the Koskikeskus town plan was implemented on the basis of a proposal by Alvar Aalto. The machine house of the Merikoski power station was completed in 1948, designed by Bertel Strömmer. The earth material produced in building the canal was used to extend Toivoniemi and Raatinsaari. The Toivoniemi residential area was built in the 1940s according to the general plan by architect Alvar Aalto; the town plan was confirmed in 1949.

Martti Heikura served as Oulu's first city architect in 1949-1963. Heikura produced designs both as part of his official duties and in his own design office, as was common in the case of the first city architects. Heikura designed three of the Toivoniemi tower blocks, three tower blocks on the other bank of the canal, and the grandstand of the sports field and the swimming hall on Raatin saari.