Deserted Finland

It’s Time To Stop When The Lights Go Out

It was getting pretty dark by now, as I had finally reached my last location in this town. It also was a very familiar one, a former mental asylum just oustide the city center.

This building is protected. It will remain in the area in the future.

There had been clearly visible vandalism since my previous visit, yet the doors didn’t open.

Moving on towards the old main hospital from the 1960’s. It was getting more and more apparent, that this building would be demolished, the area would be re-zoned for residential buildings and the oldest hospital buildings would be preserved and renovated.

When I got this far, I realized, that I wasn’t alone. A group of teenagers was also in the area. We started discussing and they told me about their visit to the old hospital, which I didn’t have the courage to visit because of the cameras.

They told me, that they had entered the place one evening a few weeks ago and were able to explore undisturbed. It started to look like I had avoided the place in vain.

We went around the hospital together looking for points of entry. Unfortunately it didn’t seem very successful.

The back side. The technical building of the area can be seen to the left.

Nope. Nothing to see here.

And nothing more to see tonight, either. When I left the hospital area, I realized, that both my headlights were out. I decided to find a place to camp at, and ended up sleeping in the trunk of my summer car on the parking lot of a public beach.

The adventures would continue the following day.

Two Landmarks Erased With One Plan Part II

And here we have the next endangered landmark, the Niinivaara water tower. Built in 1957, it strongly divided opinions. It was also in a very bad shape, which resulted in the need of a replacement. That replacement is currently built behind it.

The old tower was demolished in the summer of 2025 when its successor was completed. But before it was completed, I was sent to write an article about the building of its successor. I travelled to Joensuu on a very cold winter day in early 2024, when all train traffic in Finland had come to a halt because of a broken rail damaging train wheels. I travelled 10 hours by bus.

The office of the construction site was located in a duplex. Its roof is visible right above the transformer in the lower left corner of the picture. It wasn’t just any duplex, it was the house of local giant entrepreneurs Yrjö and Reino Laakkonen. It had two wings with multiple bedrooms, one for the family of each brother. They were connected with a sauna area with a pool.

After the death of the brothers, the house was left vacant, and sold to a local construction company, who intended to replace it with a block of flats. The company rented the other half of the house to the company building the water tower.

I was given a tour in the building, but sadly didn’t take any photos. After all, it was company time.

Two Landmarks Erased With One Plan Part I

After realizing, that I had to say goodbye to the old restaurant Jokela, I next drove up the Niinivaara hill, where two more endangered landmarks were standing.

The first of them is the former Juhanala school built in 1960. The school in the building was closed in 2012 and the high school in the same building in 2015. After that a nearby school used it as their temporary premises, while a new school was built for them. They left in 2018.

After that only the gym and community space were in use. They were closed in 2021. As the city had no use for the building, they drafted a new detail plan, which allowed it to be replaced with four blocks of flats. It had come into force earlier that spring, so I thought I’d document even this building.

Turns out, that I was already late.

The demolition had already begun from the interior of the building. There wasn’t much to see here anymore.

The previous time I saw this building, there hadn’t yet been any vandalism. That’s why I hadn’t even thought of trying to get inside.

Judging by the amount of waste, the asbestos removal has already been done, and there is not much more than bare concrete inside any more.

And as there were piles in every corner of the school, the work had probably been carried out all over the place already.

The building was one of the final examples of this type of post war school architecture before more modern styles emerged. Its destruction is again a pity.

That small, odd wing has probably been the caretaker’s apartment back in the days.

Moving on to the back side. I still hadn’t given up hope of finding cracks in the fence.

The windows revealed the location of stairways.

Again I am just guessing, but I think the wing to the right is the gym.

Looking back towards the classroom wing.

The far end of the school. No open doors here.

I wonder what has been in that small wing.

No luck here today. The school was gone by the end of the year, but it wasn’t the only landmark, that this detail plan erased.

Not Around Anymore

Another previously featured location, but not for long. This is the former restaurant, hotel and movie theater building, which had been under a demolition threat for more than 10 years despite being famous in the whole nation.

The city drafted the new detail plan and the house was allowed to go. The organization owning it sold the land to a local construction company, which wasted no time. Demolition had just started, when I arrived.

As I live very far away, this was my last chance to document whatever was left.

They had started by removing the tiles on the facade, which contained asbestos.

The wing at the back is the movie theater wing. The house to the right is protected and will be left standing.

Somebody has written a memorial and attached it to the main entrance.

A look to the other side shwoed, that the movie theater wing was already largely gone.

This wing was made of bricks unlike the original building, which was wooden.

There was just a low fence between the neighbouring lot and the building being demolished. I could have snuck in, but deemed climbing over the rubble a bit too hazardous in the arriving darkness.

There were still elements of the original interior left. That looks like it has been the place of a wall lamp.

But that was the end of this exploration. And the building. When I last visited in the summer of 2025, the lot was still empty. But in the summer of 2025 construction of a new block of flats started on the lot. It is named after the former restaurant.

A Unique Location In A Sorry State

If you’ve read this blog for long enough, you already recognize what this is about.

Yes, it’s a former co-operative store in a functionalistic style, designed by legendary architect Erkki Huttunen, who designed numerous similar buildings around the country. But there is one thing, which makes this location special.

The wooden building to the left is the original store from 1925. They were built around the country, when the ideology of co-operatives started spreading around the country. And it was very common in many places, that an extension designed by Huttunen was built next to the original building in the 1930’s and 1940’s. This one was completed in 1937.

What happened in the 1960’s was, that often the old wooden building was demolished to make way for a modern store. That happened for instance in here and here. I believe, that this is the only location in Finland, where the wooden and functionalistic business buildings still stand next to eachother.

Unfortunately the place is owned by a local businessman, who has neglected it for years. According to detail planning documents, the buildings have been without heating for more than 20 years. In 2010 they were inspected, and their use was forbidden due to water damage and microbes. They are irrepairable. They are collapsing to the street, and the town has ordered them to be demolished several times.

The same businessman owns another location, which I have visited previously. To better protect this location, I won’t tell you, where it is.

This is a shame. A horrible shame.

The fences are there, because pieces of the facade are falling to the street.

The 1925 built wooden part. It has been out of use since 2010, but the antique store which used to be there, looks like it could be open any day.

The smell of mold was so awful, that all of these items must be destroyed by now.

Moving to the back. Everything seems well closed.

The back of the functionalistic part with the loading dock. The place was damp and in a very bad condition.

No point of entry. I am so sad for this place.

For Sale, Yet Unwanted

Today I present you a new big catch. It is a former elementary school built in 1954.

Located outside the town center the school still had around 100 pupils, when it was closed in 2010.

The building was in good shape back then. They tried to sell it several times, but the highest bid was only 200 euros in 2019.

The town has stated, that unless somebody buys the place, it will be demolished. The issue is, that the 1954 built school is protected.

One final photo of the gym wing. I doubt, that this building will ever be in use again. But I will keep on coming back, until it is demolished or I get in.

The Location Wasn’t Enough

I accidentally stumbled upon this little cutie while roaming the streets of a small town. Broken windows revealed, that it is abandoned.

I was a little surprised by this. The place was located in the center of a small town just two blocks away from the church. Clearly it wasn’t enough.

An open window. Unfortunately the opening was so small, I couldn’t squeeze myself inside.

So I had to settle be content with taking pictures through the broken windows. It looks like the remains of an entire life are still inside.

The view through another window. It looks like this place has been abandoned for quite some time.

A view through the third window. I guess there would be a lot to be seen inside, but this time it was a no go.

Another Endangered Beauty

This here is a former elementary school of a small, rural town. Apparently designed by architect Eino Pitkänen, who is famous for designing half of the town of Kajaani, and completed in 1949. School use ended in 2011 and all other use in 2021.

The story is again familiar. The local activists want to preserve the school and give it protection status, the town opposes because of the building’s bad condition.

The school is not on the list of buildings to be demolished but the mayor has stated in 2021, that it will be demolished. There is no official decision about it.

The local activists made a petition to have the building protected by law. It didn’t go through so the building is waiting.

Let me get this straight: Demolishing this beauty would be sheer idiocracy.

Again At The Gates

Welcome back to another familiar location, the old mine, which closed in 1989. The photo has been taken from the gate leading to the mining area. The fence next to it is still broken, but something again prevents me from going there. I’m not sure what.

The tower is the last standing structure in the area. It is protected, but in November 2022 the owner of the area applied for a permit to demolish it. In March 2023 the authorities rejected the permit. They stated that the building is too important to be demolished.

The owner then decided to erect a fence around it. Maybe I should some day be brave enough to go to the other side of the gates and explore the new fence.