When I returned from my holiday to Lisbon, I had made an important decision. This was to be my last summer in the north of Finland. I had never wanted to move there in the first place, and I had been trying to leave as soon as I got there. Ten years had passed, and that was enough.
I had no new apartment, I had no new job, I didn’t even have a plan. I only had the will to leave and was soon overwhelmed by a strong fear of missing out. I hadn’t explored abandoned places properly in almost two years since my disappointment with my photography skills), and this was my last chance to explore the north. Or so I thought
I looked up all information I could find. I read the city’s zoning plans, asked friends for tips and even went as far as the discussion board Ylilauta to search for abandoned houses in the area. One very useful source was the old website of kniexp.org.
My first new location in around two years was an old villa. Located in an island with lots of other old villas, time hadn’t really treated this baby well.
Around a hundred years ago it was customary that wealthy families had an apartment in the city and a summer villa a bit further away by the sea. This further away was in this case around three-four kilometres.
What I’ve managed to piece together from Facebook groups, this was the villa of a Swedish-speaking family, which owned a grocery store downtown. In the later decades it became the clubhouse for the local police association, which used it for recreation.
Weddings were still hosted here at least in the late 1980’s, but the police association built a smaller and more modern cottage on the same premises, and the old villa was at some point abandoned.
It doesn’t look too sound, but fuck it, I’m going in!
The first room next to the entrance reveals the usual story: renovations had been done with no respect for the old building.
There were stairs up, but…
The upstairs didn’t look like it was worth visiting. The roof had leaked for years. As a matter of fact an aerial photo from the site reveals, that parts of it were missing and water flowed in freely.
Most of the downstairs was one big room. I don’t think the one who has drawn on the walls realized, where he was.
To be honest the view in the former kitchen looked like someone had fallen right through the roof.
Had it not been for the bushes, the view to the sea would have been quite nice.
That this room was the kitchen was just a guess. There were no kitchen appliances left, but the cupboards give a hint.
A look back in the large room downstairs. The roof here was still intact so I preferred to stay on this side of the wall.
And a final look at the building. But most importantly my summer of adventures had kicked off well.