Hämeenpuisto

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

Hämeenpuisto in Tampere is the longest continuous park promenade in the Nordic countries, associated with town planning of the 1830s. Hämeenpuisto and the notable public buildings and apartment blocks built in different decades along it form a historically layered urban space of uniform scale.

Over a kilometre long, Hämeenpuisto, an esplanade-type street, leads across the Tampere city isthmus from Näsijärvi to Pyhäjärvi.

Hämeenpuisto's four straight rows of trees consist of limes and maples. Along the park there is a considerable amount of notable building stock: schools and factory company buildings from around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, public buildings built between 1880 and 1980, and apartment blocks of the 20th century. In the middle of the park, at the western end of Hämeenkatu, stands the neo-Gothic Aleksanteri church (Decker 1881) and the surrounding Pyynikki church park. Other buildings lining Hämeenpuisto include, among others, the Laivayhtiö building (Federley 1908, Tiitola 1939), Länsipuisto (Kallio 1927), the Amurinlinna block (Bryggman 1950-54), the Finlayson small palace (Thesleff 1897), the main library Metso (Pietilät 1986), Tuulensuu (Strömmer 1928), Aleksanteri school (Sjöström 1873, Calonius 1886, Lönn 1903), Työväentalo (Tiitola 1899, Pettersson 1905, Heikki Kaartinen 1912, B. Strömmer 1930), Tampereen Työväen teatteri (architectural office Marjatta and Martti Jaatinen 1985), Pyynikki school (Lönn 1899, 1931) and the Klingendahl factory building (Petterson 1897, 1904, 1905).

Sculptures on Hämeenpuisto include, among others, Viktor Jansson's Vapaudenpatsas (1921), Lauri Leppänen's Minna Canth statue (1951) and Heikki Varja's Uutinen (1981). The two ends of Hämeenpuisto, Näsinpuisto and Eteläpuisto, are decorated with its most notable sculptures: Emil Wikström's fountain in Näsinpuisto (1913) and, in Eteläpuisto, Wäinö Aaltonen's Osuustoimintamonumentti (1950).

History

Hämeenpuisto was first outlined in the town plan drawn up by C. L. Engel in 1830. At that time the park street was located on the western boundary of the built-up area of the town, and its task was to prevent fires spreading between the new and old parts of the town. The new part, as well as the Esplanadi shown in Engel's plan, lay partly on the area of the townspeople's cultivated plots, that is the plantations. The plantations were reverted to the town, and from the 1850s onward construction began along the present length of Hämeenpuisto according to Engel's town plan. The area between the plot area and the townspeople's plantations had been inhabited already before 1810.

In the fire of 1865, park and plot areas were destroyed in the central part of the present Hämeenpuisto. After the fire, architect C.A. Edelfelt drew up a town plan which widened the park to its present width of 60 metres. The oldest part of the park was planted in 1875-1879 under the direction of town gardener K.J. Gauffin, between Satamakatu and Puuvillatehtaankatu. At the end of the 19th century, the plantings of the young industrial town rivalled those of Helsinki and Turku in standard. The park was later extended and by 1903 reached Eteläpuisto. Maples were planted between Kauppakatu and Puuvillatehtaankatu, and limes south of Hämeenkatu. The park as a whole was completed in 1909.

Between Puuvillatehtaankatu and Näsijärvenkatu a children's play park was established in 1917-1919, which was renovated into a lounging square in the 1990s. The park was renamed from Esplanadi to Hämeenpuisto in 1936. The park was renovated already before the wars, and the last trees of the central row were removed in 1947. Between Hämeenkatu and Eteläkatu a rejuvenation cutting was carried out in 1956, and trees were felled due to disease in the 1970s. Replanting of trees has continued in the 1990s and 2000s.