Deserted Finland

A Weekend Exploration Date Part IV

We camped in the rural area and woke up fairly early. We got going as soon as we got the car to start. It was getting increasingly difficult each time, but eventually the car would start every time.

We hadn’t driven for more than a few kilometers, when we spotted something by the roadside.

A huge farm house, almost like a mansion and in a very bad shape.

The place didn’t stand straight anymore. All porch windows were broken.

Like I said, the building was huge. There was already a hole in the roof.

It’s not visible in this photo, but the yard contained brand new looking farming machinery and other equipment. Although the house was no longer in use, the lot seemed to be an active use. We left.

It turned out, that this had been a significant building. It was older than the 1830’s and one of the oldest still standing houses in Finland. it had been an inn. The last resident was a famous sculptor, who passed in 2023.

A Weekend Exploration Date Part III

The day hadn’t been the most successful one. We had found no new locations, apart from the few ones on my list. And they were well closed.

The sun was already setting, when we reached a regional town and another location on my list.

This old co-operative mill was built in 1935 and the big silos were added in the early 1950’s. The use of the building ended in 2016 and the co-operative owning it applied for a demolition permit. It was denied, and no new use has been found for the building.

There were tight fences around the building.

The mural was added in 2018.

Even the doors and windows looked well sealed.

The building seen from the other side of the street.

As you can see, it is starting to get dark.

At least the owner has updated the logo on the roof.

Even the moon is visible in the sky.

There was one open door on this side. But the fence was tight and there were cameras all around. Another dead end.

Time to look for a place to camp in.

A Weekend Exploration Date Part II

Another previously visited location and very similar to the previous one. This one is the earlier featured ironworks staff apartment garrison. As the town owning it didn’t receive permission to tear it down, they decided to fix the worst damage and send the bill to the owner. The law allows that.

If you look at the right corner of the building, the damage indeed is pretty extensive. The fence is there to avoid the house from collapsing onto bypassers.

I am not a structural engineer. But I’m pretty sure, that the wall shouldn’t look like that.

And if you look more closely, the floor of the second floor seems to have collapsed too.

Let’s move on to the other side to look for a way in.

They had built an irritatingly solid fence.

And even blocked all the other ways in.

All the doors were blocked.

The house was located on a hillside. This view is from an even higher part of the hill.

Another view from a bit further shows that the building is actually taller on the other side.

No luck entering today. Too bad.

A Weekend Exploration Date Part I

Surprisingly enough I was still dating the same person I did in the previous December. Despite living several hours away, we managed to meet around once a month. As I now had a summer car and would spend the weekends roadtripping, she asked to accompany me. It was easy to say yes.

We left westwards from the capital region on Friday afternoon. I knew very little places around the area, so it was mostly about roadtripping and less about exploring. During the first evening we only managed one location.

This one here is of course a building, which has been featured previously. It is the sawmill workers’ apartment garrison I found in 2022. Back then I did manage to enter one apartment, but would have liked to see more.

Unfortunately that was not the case, but I wasn’t too worried. The weekend was only just beginning.

Unwanted Assistance

My final location of the day was this former school. It was built in 1964 and closed in 2022, when the last pupils moved to a new school nearby.

Apparently even its fate was to be demolished.

The city owning it still had some vehicles stored on the lot.

Originally the school was called Pohjois-Tapiolan koulu. Sepon koulu was a neighboring school, which moved here when its building was demolished earlier. The schools have now merged and are operating in a new, 2022 completed building.

When I approached this corner of the building, I heard kids’ voices. I asked them if they knew a way inside. They said they didn’t, but they offered to break a window, climb inside and open a door for me. I declined. I am strictly against vandalism even if it would benefit my hobby.

The kids had come by bikes.

The glasses had sustained the previous hits surprisingly well.

Moving further behind the school.

And around the corner.

The building was an expressionless example of 1960’s architecture.

The longer wing of the school.

The shape of the building might have had something to do with its functions.

It looks as if they have only recently been boarding the windows shut.

Looking back.

There was no way in, so I started heading back. That was when I heard the huge noise of breaking glass and a woman screaming “What do you boys think you’re doing?”

It looks like they did try to break in to open a door, but had quickly fled the scene.

As I didn’t want to get the blame, I quickly left the scene too.

Still Rotting Away

Another familiar location, which I last photographed to a gallery in 2021. These two farm houses are some of the oldest in the town. They have been empty for long and the city is looking for someone to renovate them into business use.

So far there have been no volunteers. Maybe because of the bad condition of the buildings.

They were well sealed.

Too well to be honest. Still no entry.

Finally Got The Yellow House

This here is a familiar view for me. I’ve tried to enter this ordinary yellow house twice, in 2022 and 2023. I’ve managed to reach both the garage and the porch, but not the house itself.

The porch door is again open, but there is one more door ahead, which has so far been locked.

There was a huge amount of pieces of mirror on the carpet.

Finally the door inside was open. The floor boards were missing in the hall and it looks like somebody has at some point lit a fire on one of the support beams.

For some strange reason the power was still on.

The small and primitive bathroom was full of stuff including a drum.

In fact the entire house was full of random stuff thrown around.

Probably the former living room. The mountain of junk was difficult to walk on.

The living room seen to the other direction.

A beautiful old shelf.

And a very worn out fireplace.

I tried to photograph the calendar to estimate the building’s date of abandonment. I failed.

I believe this to be the bedroom. The ceiling is collapsing.

The collapse has happened in several places and is already quite severe.

An interesting system. Ceiling remains can be seen in the background.

A close up of the collapse.

Back in the living room.

There was very little room for movement.

The grill doesn’t look that old fashioned.

A newspaper from 1946. It was common back then to put them inside walls under the wallpaper, so maybe that was when this house has been built.

Entering the kitchen.

Even the kitchen counter and sink were stuffed with all kinds of stuff.

That room was completely inaccessible because of the junk.

Final views of the kitchen.

This explains the massive amount of small mirrors. A giant disco ball.

Views outside from the hall. A lot of furniture has been thrown through the windows.

The building was destroyed by fire in August 2025 when the wave of arsons bothering Espoo continued.

Dental Work Done

After exploring the voluntary fire brigade club house, I noticed, that the neighboring house looked pretty abandoned too.

There was a way in to the basement, but only to a room with the heating system.

A dentist has been working and probably also living here. I couldn’t find any match with that name in the database for healthcare professionals meaning, that it must have been a while since she practiced her profession.

I Wasn’t entirely sure about the place, so I didn’t stay around for long.

Four Hours Before The Fire

They say, that Finland is the land of a thousand lakes. They also say, that Finland is the land of a thousand associations.

This one here is the former headquarters of the local voluntary fire brigade of Tuomarila, Espoo. Voluntary fire brigades are quite literally what the name says they are. They volunteer to put out fires. They often had large association houses back in the days. They served as party venues, gig venues and such as this one, local movie theaters.

The building in question was completed in 1959. It was considered a local landmark. A very traditional old fashioned movie theater was in operation there until 2011.

Since 2012 the building had been nearly empty. It had since been sold to a construction company to be demolished to make way for new apartments. As you can see, demolition wasn’t that far away. Even fences had been brought to the location.

The reason for the sale was, that the voluntary fire bregade could no longer sustain the upkeep of the building. They had even collected donations for the heating of the building before it was abandoned in the 2010’s.

As the construction business in Finland hit a massive recession back in 2022 everything seemed to be on hold.

Meanwhile the building was attracting all kinds of uninvited visitors – urban explorers such as me and vandals unlike me.

So let’s go have a closer look. According to the sign, a camera store has last occupied this section of the building.

And here we have an example of more or less modern computing.

And so I am inside. This space was last occupied by a kiosk, which was one of the last tenants of the building. It was still there in 2012.

Shelves inside the old kiosk space.

The instructions for selling beer.

A view outside.

All the windows to the door to the kiosk were broken.

Next door was a sports store, which at least at some point was specialized in bikes. It was still there at least in 2009.

It was by far the largest store in the building.

Another door with a load of tags.

The space occupied by the sports store had probably consisted of several smaller businesses back in the days.

Now it was empty walls and old tires.

A corridor leading to the back door.

This looks like a storage room.

Another view towards the front of the building. And this was where I was stuck for a long time. A car drove up to the yard of the building, a grey Toyota Avensis. It stood there for a long time, the driver exited and it sounded like he entered the building and exited, several times. I didn’t move until the car was gone.

And after it was gone, I started finding my way out through the sports store. After that I left, quickly.

One final photo taken through the upstairs window, which was in a too difficult place for me to climb in through.

After a few more adventures I got home and started transferring photos. That was when there was a breaking news alert. This very building was on fire and was burning to the ground. I contacted the authorities and reported the grey Avensis.

But it turned out, that they were innocent after all. There was a wave of arsons around Espoo at that time, and the suspects in this case were local youths around 12 years of age. As they were that young, they couldn’t be charged.

The ruins of these business premises still stand to this day. But this was the closest ever call I have recorded: four hours from my exploration to the complete destruction of the building.

Another One Just Sitting

My adventures next took me to another school featured earlier. I’ve been here every spring, but here’s a gallery from 2021, which is the only one so far. Apparently I’ve just come here, realized that there’s still no way in and just gone on without taking any photos.