I’ve posted several photos of valuable and protected old villas neglected by the city. The city isn’t the same as in the previous stories, but here we have yet another example of the same phenomenon.
This building was built in 1913, when the area was still very rural. It was very common for wealthy families living in Helsinki to purchase a villa outside town. When the war came and Helsinki was bombed, the family owning it escaped the capital and moved there permanently. One family upstairs, one family downstairs.
The city started growing around the villa. The house remained with the family until the late 1980’s or early 1990’s, when the city bought it. They would have allowed the owners to live there for as long as they wanted, but they were old and the house was in a poor condition.
In 2020 the city put the house up for sale, but withdrew it soon enough. The road running past it was very crowded, and making it better would have resulted in it occupying parts of the lot, maybe even building it over the villa.
And so the place was boarded shut to wait for some decisions to be made.
Meanwhile nature is taking over.
There were foundations on the lot indicating, that there had perhaps been other buildings on the yard.
And just a few weeks back the old sauna of the villa was standing there.
The villa was protected, but the sauna wasn’t, so it was razed. Work hadn’t quite yet been completed.
Luckily they saved the beautiful old doors.
Edit: This story has a happy ending. In 2024 the villa has been fully renovated and is inhabited.