As the Covid pandemic was once again gaining ground, new restrictions were put in place. As nothing was open, the only way to get to go on dates was going outside for walks. I have always been pretty open on Tinder about my urbex hobby, and not once or twice I’ve had someone show me places they know.
This time we were quite close to my home, and I was fairly surprised, when my date said, that she could show me a place nearby. We were in the heart of a big city, and I didn’t expect to find anything there.
But surely enough less than a kilometer away in the middle of a large public park was this old villa.
Although very much abandoned, it was also very tightly sealed. The place was in the middle of a popular recreation area, which might have kept unauthorized visitors from breaking places.
The stairs looked to be in a surprisingly good shape. The paint of the walls was also not too old.
The sticker says ‘know your tits’ and the red text ‘gas the hippies’. That’s two pretty contradicting statements.
As you can see, the blocks of flats aren’t very far away. We are in a really central place.
I am not really sure, if this portrays anybody.
But an abandoned villa in such a central location has a story, of course. So let’s tell it.
Back in the late 19th century this area was still pretty much outside the city center. Back in 1888 a local butcher decided to build this villa in a rural valley. The original owner owned the place until the first world war, when it got military use.
After that the place was owned by the late butcher’s estate. The city had now grown around the valley, which had become a popular recreation area. At some point a café was located in the villa.
The next decades were not so glorious for the house. It became a rental house with very small rooms, some of which didn’t even have a stove. Eventually the city bought it and rented it back in the 1980’s to one of the most famous charity organizations in Finland. The organization was allowed to house homeless people in there. Apparently the place was in an awful condition.
Back in 2002 it was renovated and as it wasn’t fit to be used as apartments anymore, the house became a storage facility for the charity. It was abandoned in 2017 and occupied by a group of anarchists in 2019. They were eventually thrown out.
Since then the villa has been guarded around the clock. There have been plans of new use, but the city hasn’t approved them.
And this is just one of the many historic villas owned by the city, which stand abandoned. The city really is notorious for letting them rot.
Perhaps there will be more of them featured here.