For several years now I had read stories and seen photos about an area called Tehtaanmäki (Factory Hill) near Savio, Kerava. There had been a massive rubber factory, and somewhere behind it was the factory’s former residential area.
What I understood from articles like this one, there had been several beautiful brick houses and several more modest wooden houses, which had stood abandoned for years. So of course when my tour took me to Savio, I had to go look for them.
It was pretty difficult to find the place at first, but I finally managed to locate it on Google Maps. Except, when I got there, it didn’t resemble the aerial photo at all. The first thing I saw, were two old, wooden houses, which had been beautifully renovated. In the corner of the forest were some brand new expensive looking houses, which weren’t there in the aerial photo. And where the old stone houses should have been, was nothing.
My worst fears were soon confirmed, when I found bricks, water pipes and foundation remains. The beautiful stone castles had been demolished, the more modest wooden houses repaired. There were three of them, and the last one produced quite a surprise.
So this building survived years and years of neglect, was repaired and burned up just a few years later. I’ve seen the area from the train window (tracks are behind it), and it has been demolished. The old stone castles have been replaced by new ones slightly resembling them – but can never replace the original ones.