Pohjanmaan teollisuuden kartanot (Bruksherrgårdarna i Österbotten)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

There has been no manor system in Ostrobothnia, but the manor-like patruunarakennukset of the industrial bourgeoisie who were active in the province in the 19th century are comparable to the main buildings of manors.

The 18th- and 19th-century patruunarakennukset of Ostrobothnian industry, with their courtyards and surroundings, are associated with personal, land-ownership and social history that is exceptional in the history of Ostrobothnia and Finland, as well as with the early industrialisation history of the countryside. They reflect the prosperity brought by shipowning in Ostrobothnia and other related business in Coastal Ostrobothnia.

Significant industrial patruunarakennukset in Ostrobothnia include the main buildings of Benvik in Närpiö, Åminneborg in Maalahti, the Grönvik glassworks in Mustasaari and the Nyby glassworks in Ii, as well as Kiitola, Juthbacka and Keppo in Uusikaarlepyy. Significant areas of early industry in Ostrobothnia also include Orisberg in Isokyrö, the Oravainen ironworks and factory, Östermyra/Törnävä in Seinäjoki, and Kolkki and Merikaarto in Vähäkyrö.

NÄRPIÖ / BENVIK
On the northern side of the town of Kaskinen, on the shore of the strait separating the town from the mainland, the courtyard of the Benvik farm contains two exceptionally fine two-storey Ostrobothnian houses from the late 18th century. The impressive late 18th-century building at Benvik is linked to the history of the Bladh family, who grew wealthy through grain and tar trading and shipowning, and who founded the town of Kaskinen. In addition to the residential buildings, the courtyard includes outbuildings: two granary storehouses (aitta), a smoke sauna and a boathouse. Nearby is the burial chapel commissioned by Peter Johan Bladh.

MAALAHTI / ÅMINNEBORG
On the northern bank of the mouth of the Maalahdenjoki river stands the neoclassical manor of Åminneborg, in a courtyard whose sides have been closed off by buildings. The two-storey main building with a mansard roof is one of the few manor-like buildings in Ostrobothnia. The façades are articulated with pilasters, and a bold classical dentil moulding runs around the eaves. The representational character of the upper floor is emphasised by taller windows. It has been suggested that the house was designed by the Stockholmer Johan Elfström, who between 1780-1788 led the construction of the Vaasa Court of Appeal building and also worked on the churches of Sulva, Pirttikylä and Raippaluoto. The mansard-roofed outbuilding, which houses the manor's own museum, dates from the period 1750-1761. It originally stood on the site of the present main building, but was moved out of the way of the new main building.

Åminneborg lies within the nationally valuable "Övermalax - Åminne" landscape area.

MUSTASAARI / GRÖNVIK
Of the building stock of the Grönvik glassworks, what survives is possibly the two-storey main building from the late 18th century, with its park and the gardener's house. The main building was built no later than 1814 and restored in the 2000s.

UUSIKAARLEPYY / KIITOLA
Water power from the Kiitola rapids has been used since the Middle Ages. The buildings of the former woollen mill that operated at the Kiitola manor date from the 1920s, and the manor's wooden main building dates from the 19th century. The complex includes an old stone bridge and dam structures.

UUSIKAARLEPYY / JUTHBACKA
The Gustavian main building of Juthbacka was completed in 1821 as the manor of the sawmill founded in 1817. The façade of the mansard-roofed building was articulated by a frontispiece decorated with four pilasters. Of the four originally red-ochre-painted outbuildings in the courtyard, three have survived.

UUSIKAARLEPYY/ KEPPO
Keppo manor is located at Ylä-Jepua, on the riverside landscape of the Lapuanjoki river, alongside the Keponkoski rapids. The imposing late Empire-style building dates from 1869. The ironworks' building stock also includes, among others, an office, a workers' residential building and outbuildings. Together with its sawmills, Keponkoski was one of the industrial establishments of J. Bladh of Kaskinen in the 18th century, and in the 19th century, alongside Kimo in Oravainen, one of the production sites of the Björkman (ennobled as Björkenheim) industrial family.

II / NYBY
On the seashore at Olhava in Ii, of the buildings of the Nyby glass ironworks, which began operating in 1784, what survives is the large main building built in the 1840s and a huge stone cowshed; of the glassworks, only the ruins of its foundations remain. The long main building has more than 10 rooms, and the cowshed was built for over 40 cows. The factory community once also included a sawmill, a mill, a shipyard and a school, as well as much other building stock. The Ostrobothnian coast road is part of the historical environment of Nyby, and parts of the stone walls bordering the road survive. A signposted sea route has also led to the ironworks

History

The burghers of the Gulf of Bothnia and of Oulu began to make use of the freedoms allowed by the Gulf of Bothnia staple trade restrictions, which had been broken in 1765, as merchants and shipowners. Many of them, once freedom of trade had been realised, went abroad to become acquainted with business life and to establish trading links.

At the end of the 18th century, 12 glassworks or glass ironworks were founded in Finland, including the glassworks of Grönvik in Mustasaari and Nybyn in Ii.

NÄRPIÖ / BENVIK
Of the two two-storey residential buildings on the Benvik estate in Närpiö, one was built by Johan Bladh the Younger in 1776 and the other by his son Peter Johan Bladh in 1786.

Johan Bladh, a descendant of a merchant family, was a partner in the tobacco factory that his mother had founded in Vaasa, and in 1762 he received the right to establish a wool manufactory in Vaasa. Initially Bladh engaged in foreign trade as a shareholder in ships from Turku, as Vaasa did not have staple rights. After the freedom of trade of 1765 he began to outfit ships of his own. When it began to look as though Vaasa's staple rights would pass to the town to be founded at Kaskinen, Bladh acquired the Benvik estate in Närpiö, which comprised the whole area of the future town. Bladh moved to Benvik in 1775 and had a residential building erected on the estate in 1776. At his own expense he built a customs and warehouse building in Kaskinen in 1777. At Bladh's petition Kaskinen was granted staple rights as early as 1779, although its town privileges were not confirmed until 1785. Earlier still, Bladh had founded a small brewery in Kaskinen, and in 1781 a shipping company.

Johan Bladh's son, Peter Johan Bladh, a supercargo belonging to the cantonal directorate of the Swedish East India Company, returned to Finland after his father's death in 1783 and built himself a new residential building at Benvik in 1786. He was one of the country's wealthiest shipowners, a member of the Diet, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. After Peter Johan Bladh's death a flax-spinning mill was established at Benvik in 1818, which nevertheless ceased operations as early as 1825. Benvik was later owned by Johan Carlström and Carl Jacob Grönberg, the latter of whom established a faience factory at Benvik in the mid-19th century.

MAALAHTI / ÅMINNEBORG
The main building of Åminneborg was built by saltpetre manufacturer Petter Böcker between 1787 and 1792, after he had bought the estate from Israel Blad, a merchant from Vaasa. The main building was damaged by fire in 2003.

MUSTASAARI / GRÖNVIK
At the end of the 19th century the Grönvik glassworks was the largest manufacturer of window glass in the Nordic countries. It had been founded by shipowner Johan Grönberg in 1812 in the village of Iskmo in Mustasaari, beside a harbour site. Operations ended in 1907. In connection with the glassworks there was also a paper mill (1828-1876), a faience factory (1841-1907) and a shipyard.

UUSIKAARLEPYY / KIITOLA
In the 19th century, activities related to the weaving industry were concentrated in the area of the Kiitola rapids. The spinning mill was completed in the 1890s and later a weaving mill. The present main building was moved from Härmä to replace the earlier one, which had burned, in 1891-1893. The present bridge over the rapids was built in 1910. A new factory building was completed right beside the manor's main building in 1912, and a new power station in 1922. The woollen mill was forced to cease operations in 1932, and since then companies from various sectors have operated in the area.

UUSIKAARLEPYY / JUTHBACKA
Lieutenant Carl Backman, who among other things traded in tar in Raahe and Uusikaarlepyy, established a mill and a sawmill in 1817 on the Juthbacka estate he had bought in 1813. The estate had already been a military office farm in the 17th century. The main building was originally made into a captain's office farm in 1821. A modern extension was built alongside it in the 1970s. In the 20th century Juthbacka housed, among other things, an educational institution and a rest home. In 2003 the town of Uusikaarlepyy decided to buy and repair Juthbacka, among other things for use as a meeting venue, and the interior of the main building was restored in its original form in 2005-2006.

UUSIKAARLEPYY / KEPPO
The earliest industrial history of Keppo in the 18th century is linked to the industrial enterprises of J. Bladh of Kaskinen. At Keponkoski there was a sawmill as early as the 18th century, a tobacco factory and a pitch ironworks. Carl Otto von Essen, bookkeeper of the Kimo ironworks in Oravainen, acquired the estate with its sawmills in 1838. The sawmill burned in 1893, after which a weaving mill was built on its site on the initiative of manufacturer Hugo Grönlund; it operated from 1899 to 1908.

Keppo manor passed to the ownership of Emil Höglund and Karl Johan Tidström in 1954. A mink farm was established next to the manor, which in the 1960s became the largest in the world. Ownership of Keppo Oy, founded by the owners, passed to it from Ostrobothnia's old industrial sites: the Kimo ironworks in 1962 and Oravainen verkatehdas Oy in 1966.

II / NYBY
A merchant from Oulu and court councillor, Johan Nylander, received permission in 1782 to establish a glassworks at Olhava, in Ii. The factory, which began two years later, grew into one of the largest in the Nordic countries. It passed to the ownership of Nylander's son-in-law Adolf Falander in 1792. At that time the factory employed 300 people in total, 19 of whom were glassblowers. Falander gave up his privilege in 1807. Lawman Julius Conrad Antell restarted the factory's operations in 1813, after which it was mainly owned by the Antell and Fellman families. Operations ended in 1885. The factory burned in the early 20th century.