J.W. Suomisen nahkatehdas ja Koskilinna

English translation (from the Finnish)

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Description

Suominen leather factory is an important representative of the industrial branch, and Koskilinna is an example of monumental residences designed for industrial leaders.

On the Tattaranjoki, a tributary of the Kokemäenjoki, stands the tannery founded in 1898 by J.W. Suominen, which over the years has grown into one of the country's major leather factories. In addition to the factory buildings, the red-brick complex includes a manor-like residence with park, built by J.W. Suominen and designed by architect Väinö Vähäkallio.

The factory area has been extended since the early 20th century. In the industrial area along the Tattaranjoki, the first part of the oldest factory building, completed in 1908, was extended in 1916, 1920 and 1929. The three-storey former workers' hostel known as Kivimuuri was completed in 1920, and the wooden office building in 1913.

Koskilinna, the private residence that industrialist Suominen had built for himself in 1926-28 on the river landscape south of the factory, is a classicist brick building made up of wall-like surfaces. The main block is three storeys, the tower section four storeys and the wing two storeys. The façade is dominated by an entrance portico supported by four columns. The building also includes terraces and pergolas. The building has remained largely original both inside and out. It is closely linked to the nearby factory area, and a fairly large park spreads around it. On the other side of the river is a tennis court.

The nearby Nakkila church was built with funds from the bequest of J.W. Suominen (see separate entry Nakkila church and its surroundings).

History

Juho Wiktor Suominen founded the tannery in 1898 in the parish of Nakkila, at the confluence of the Tattaranjoki and the Vähäjoki. The location was good: the town of Pori was nearby, the railway between Tampere and Pori had been completed in 1895, and water needed for leather processing could be drawn from the river. The buildings on the site were owned by shoemaker Kalle Koskinen, whose daughter Juho Suominen married. Actual industrial production began in 1908, when the first factory building was constructed and a steam engine acquired. The factory was extended as demand for leather grew, partly because of the First World War. In 1913 a new residential building (office) was completed, and in 1916 a new factory building. In the 1920s the factory was extended twice more, and at that time a rendered workers' residential building named Kivimuuri was also built. In 1929 the Kansallis-Osake-Pankki Nakkila office building was built next to Kivimuuri. The bank had previously operated in the leather factory's premises. Later the building housed the factory shop. The building was demolished at the turn of the 21st century.

The architect Väinö Vähäkallio designed the residence of the new Suominen family, Koskilinna, in the 1920s. The manor-like residence was luxuriously furnished: the decorative paintings were made by Hongell & Forström, the light fittings by Taito Oy, and the furniture by Birger Hahl.

The weakening profitability of the shoe industry and the arrival of new shoe materials affected the profitability of leather factories in the 1960s. As a new production field, the Suominen factory took up nonwoven textile fabric and products made from it: carpets, felts and wadding. The word 'nahkatehdas' (leather factory) was dropped from the company name. New industrial premises were completed north of the old factory in the 1970s. At the beginning of the 21st century the premises house the textile fabric factory of Suominen Yhtymä Oyj.