The following location is also a former school. But not just any school. It was the secondary school, which my friend attended in the 2010’s.
The school was built in 1964 and closed in 2013, when my friend graduated from it. She was really eager to get inside.
The building was badly vandalized, but again well closed.
The pupils weren’t allowed to use this door I have been told.
The school was called the U-school. That is because it was built in the shape of a U.
When I took the pictures, the school had been abandoned for 10 years. The reason why it wasn’t already demolished was, that it was the location of the local civil defense shelter.
The forest was steadily growing around the location.
And now we’re entering the courtyard of the school. This is where my friend had lots of memories from.
The courtyard. The school was built on a hillside, which was customary in the 1960’s. That’s why it has two floors on the front side but only one at the back.
Every single window and door was covered.
And the same theme continued on the other side of the courtyard.
The functionalistic building behind the school was the original school building, this one was just an extension. It was sold to a private investor, restaurated perfectly and became offices.
This school was also for sale, but no buyer was found. Its fate was to be demolition.
This is probably the former caretaker’s apartment.
Another view of the courtyard.
And the final side of the school. Unfortunately there was no entry.
The school was demolished in 2024, but these are not my last pictures of it.
The following location was an elementary school built in 1977. It was closed in 2018 because of its bad condition.
When these photos were taken the building had been abandoned for five years.
The building was definitely abandoned, but well sealed.
I still decided to try the traditional walkaround.
That isn’t exactly right.
Even the back was well closed.
There was a hill behind the school. It looks like there are a lot of skylights – and a pool on the roof.
The roof is actually one of the strangest that I’ve seen.
Moving on. But everything was blocked. There’s actually an active daycare center in the left corner of the photo. As the heating center of that daycare center is in this school, it can’t be demolished before the daycare center moves away. Apparently this is also planned.
The story is still the same. No entry.
I don’t think that the eventual demolition of this building will be a loss to Finnish architecture. I strongly dislike this era’s buildings.
My friend next took me to a suburb, where she showed me this location. It was originally a general store, but had been converted into a restaurant at some point. Hugely popular in the beginning of the 2000’s, it closed sometime in the 2010’s.
The restaurant was called Iltatähti, the Evening star. In Finland this also refers to a child born long after their siblings.
In early August that year my company chose to send me to cover a few construction sites in Eastern Finland. I took the opportunity and left before I officially was supposed to. I stayed at my friend’s place, because she said she had some places to show me.
And this here is the first one. We are already too late. This is the Sammonlahti school in Lappeenranta. Built in 1989, it was demolished to make way for a multi-use building combining lots of public services.
It was a perfectly sound building. It was demolished, because the city decided to change its focus. Let’s just call this stupidity.
The building was from an era, the architecture of which I don’t appreciate that much. I may change my opinion in the future, though, so don’t be confused if I do so.
There were open doors and gaps in the fence, but the demolition had already advanced so far, that I didn’t see it viable to enter. There wouldn’t have been much to see anymore.
The outsides of the building were in the shape of a square. The back around the atrium was a half circle.
You could see right through the building.
I think that the atrium side would have been more interesting. It was mostly gone by now.
A view from further away. The new school is now ready and in operation.
While I was in the area, my friends started contacting me. They had read news about a long since abandoned general store finally getting a demolition permit that day. The demolition would commence as soon as the two week appeal period would be over.
I knew the location. I had seen it when passing by but never paid enough attention to photograph it. As the decision had come the previous day I thought I had plenty of time.
It turns out, that I didn’t. They had actually started work that very same day the permit came. The appeal period had just started and had somebody appealed, they would have been in big trouble.
But I don’t think anybody appealed. The building had been abandoned for decades and was partially collapsed. This was a definite no go, and another locally important building vanished into history without anybody really missing it.
The final views. While I was heading back to my car, I met a woman walking a large dog.
“Wait a second, don’t I know you?”, she asked.
It turns out she did. She was working in the restaurant in my university canteen in my former home town years ago. Her daughter was also studying there with me, and we sort of knew eachother. The town was more than 500 kilometers away, but she told me she had recently relocated here.
This was the last week of my summer holiday. I was already tired and about to head home, when I received a message from a friend of a friend. She was working a summer job at a vineyard not too far away, told me, that she had a big apartment there with lots of accommodation space, and asked, if I wanted to come over.
Well, I love random invitations, and this seemed like a random enough one. So I headed over there. We had a small dinner before the night, and the following morning I accompanied her to work and bought some of the local products in the store, which were amazing.
After that I headed straight home, even ahead of schedule. I spent the weekend transferring photos from my camera to my computer, getting back in the habit of blogging and preparing for a new autumn at work. Which already involved my next adventure.
Another earlier featured building. I’ve previously wondered what it has been, but it turns out, that this is the gardener’s and chauffeur’s home of a tuberculosis sanatorium, and built in 1933. The sanatorium later became a regional hospital, which was closed some time ago. This building, however, along with the apartment buildings for doctors and nurses, was abandoned long before the hospital.
I’ve been to the area in 2020, and 2021, but never managed to enter a single building. Some of the apartment buildings have already been demolished after my first visit, and I didn’t expect any entries this time, either.
But as it turns out, you never should stop trying.
The building has clearly been abandoned for years. To see that old fashioned toilets in Finland is rare, so it is very likely, that it has been uninhabited for decades and used as a storage before being completely abandoned and shut down.
And judging by the small amount of usable stuff inside, even that had happened years ago.
It was dark and mazy inside. Not a good place for photography.
Inside were windows, which didn’t even seem to be from the building.
Or then they were of a later fit, where only inside windows had been fitted. The frames don’t match.
That big ray of light was the hole through which I entered.
A magazine from 1981 celebrating Riki Sorsa’s sensational run in the Eurovision song contest. He finished 16th of 20 in the final that year.
In this room it was very dark. The only light was coming through the small holes in the plywood covering the windows.
That looks like a vintage wheelchair.
It looks like this place was the dump of outdated hospital equipment.
This room had once been the kitchen.
I visited the area again in 2024. At that point it was looking like somebody was actually renovating this house. I hope, that they will succeed. It’s a beauty!
My local urbex whisperer tipped me about another location in the area. It was a former farmers’ association building in a small village. Unused for years it was on the side of a trekking path and there is a camping and campfire spot on the grounds. The building is pretty much untouched despite its doors having been unlocked for at least 10 years by now.
And what a beauty we have here indeed. The building had been neglected for decades, but no clear signs of vandalism were visible.
The door was unlocked. It was held shut by just a broomstick – a traditional Finnish way of telling that people are not at home. This is the ticket booth.
There were some broken windows, but it is also possible, that the glasses have fallen off because of the bad shape of the windows.
The lobby.
And the cloakroom.
And this has probably been the café.
Sports results in the category of boys – born 1953.
The place was in disorder, but everything was intact.
Another vintage bottle of booze. Maybe even this association has last celebrated the end of the moose hunting season like in here.
An old box of yeast.
The old stove of the building. The newer one looks to be from the late 1970’s or early 1980’s meaning, that there still was life back then.
Otherwise the kitchen was very primitive.
Dust has settled on the ping pong table. It’s been years since the previous game.
Beautiful yellow curtains.
And smaller red ones.
The layout of the house was pretty exeptional. Usually the main assembly hall is downstairs, but as I haven’t found it yet, there is no option for its location.
And indeed I was greeted with a lobby with double doors upstairs.
Amazing.
This is one of the most wonderful places I have ever been introduced to.
The stage. But wait a second, is that a baking oven?
It sure does look like one. But what on earth is it doing in the middle of the stage?
There was even a large balcony at the back. The view was a thick forest.
It really wasn’t different to the other direction.
Still wondering what that oven is about.
There were even more uncomfortable benches stored in the side room.
This explains the oven. It’s not real. It has been used for some play, maybe the last one shown here. Nevertheless, it is very well made.
Going back down. The electric meter has been removed, so there is no electricity in this building any more.
Once again I return to a familiar location, which hasn’t been featured here earlier. It is a former municipal home, which I visited for the first time in 2022, but only turned on the parking lot, when I saw the cameras.
The wooden building at the back is from the 1920’s, the more modern probably from the 1950’s, as in so many other similar places. It was first a municipal home, then a nursing home, and after it was closed, a local couple started an inn there in 1991. They closed in 2005, and the place has apparently been without use since then.
Although closed for a long time and growing thick bushes, the place was guarded. There were cameras on each corner.
The older, 1920’s section had at some point received new windows. They don’t really fit.
The further back you went, the thicker the bushes were. There is a bird watching tower behind the building. It was constructed by the founders of the inn.
The junction of the old and new parts of the building. And a familiar Volvo lurking in the bushes.
Carriages like this were used to transport milk churns back in the days.
And it is no wonder, that they are here. Municipal homes featured often farm animals and fields, because it was believed, that work was good for the patients, especially the mentally ill.
That’s why there was a huge amount of other buildings in the area as well.
Nope. No entry here.
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