Backas - Elannon suurtila (Backas gård – Elantos storgods)

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Backas - the Elannon suurtila is an impressive example of an early 20th-century food production farm of the Osuusliike Elanto cooperative, and it is closely linked to the history of the Finnish cooperative movement. The brick farm and residential complex that the cooperative Osuusliike Elannon had built at the Backas manor's farm centre for its extensive production is unified and representative.

The Backas manor lies along the Suuri Rantatie, a route with medieval origins. Osuusliike Elanto has produced most of the foodstuffs it sells in the capital region on the manor's land. The brick buildings were constructed from bricks of the Elannon tillitehdas (tile factory) that stood on the same site. The stable from 1921 is the work of architect Henrik Helin. The old cowshed from the 1870s was converted into a pigsty in 1926-1927 and joined with the stable into a unified building mass to designs by architect Urho Åberg. The cowshed he designed was built soon afterwards. The area also contains a number of brick farm and residential buildings of the same age.

The farm centre with its fields is an island recounting large-scale agriculture in an urbanised environment. The frame of the wooden main building of the Backas ratsutila was built in 1818, and the wings in 1844. The main building was renovated at the end of the 1920s, apparently to designs by architect Antero Pernaja. From the south, a wooden avenue leads to the main building and the extensive park surrounding it.

The same landscape ensemble includes the old captain's virkatalo Petas, surrounded by a cultivated clearing, whose hip-roofed main building dates from the 1850s.

History

Backas rustholli was formed in the 17th century from the kantatila of Veromiehen kylä in Helsinki parish and an abandoned farm attached to it. The main building of the manor was built in 1818, most probably by lieutenant and nimismies Nils Jonas Gunnar Ehrenkrona, who owned the estate from 1812 to 1817. Under the following owning family, the Hagelstam family, the estate was developed and several farms were added to it.

The cooperative Osuusliike Elanto acquired almost 700 hectares of land at Backas in 1916 to secure its self-sufficiency and to produce foodstuffs for its shops and restaurants. During the First World War, Elanto acquired many other plots and properties as well.

Osuusliike Elanto, the capital region's cooperative, and Helsingin Osuuskauppa had emerged at the beginning of the 20th century as the Finnish counterparts of the international cooperative movement. The Finnish cooperative movement was set in motion by the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society, and from a self-sufficient economy to a society based on trade.

Elanto was founded in 1905 as a production cooperative in the baking sector. In 1906 a plot along Hämeentie was acquired in Sörnäinen, close to the harbour and the workers' residential areas, and a diversified food production area was built on it. Elanto soon expanded into a wide-ranging consumer cooperative, which established, among other things, bread and milk shops in almost every district of the capital region. (See separate entry Osuusliikkeiden ja teollisuuden Sörnäinen.)

Backas was integrated into Elanto's production activities. In addition to fields and livestock, the estate had an extensive market garden and three large greenhouses for growing tomatoes and cucumbers. Food waste from Elanto's restaurants, bakery and brewery, in turn, was transported from Helsinki to feed Backas's pigs.

Elanto established a brick factory on the estate, and its products were used to build the estate's outbuildings: a stable, a cowshed, a large piggery and residential buildings for staff. Bricks were also used for other Elanto needs; for example, the Veromiehenkylä elementary school was built from the manor's bricks, on manor land. The old main building served as the estate manager's residence and office.

During the Winter War, when Väinö Tanner, who had served on Elanto's supervisory board and as managing director of the cooperative, was foreign minister in the government of Risto Ryti, the government of Finland met in the main building at Backas. During the bombing of Helsinki, Backas's premises were also used as a dispersal site for the valtionarkisto.

After the wars, the growth of the city of Vantaa, the settlement of evacuees, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Kehä III and industrial areas gradually reduced the manor's land. Farming in the midst of the growing city became impossible, and Elanto gave up its land areas, with the exception of the estate centre and nearby fields. Residential areas including Veromäki and Kartanonkoski have been built on Backas's former lands.