Construction | A historic office building stands dilapidated in Munkkivuori – This is the situation now

Insulating wools bounce off the outer walls of a house built in the 60s in Helsinki’s Munkkivuori. Electric wires are hanging from the walls, some windows are broken. Some parts of the house are surrounded by protective covers, which have also already been torn.

In front of the house there is a big pile of various building materials. Boards, tiles and pipes.

The house looks like a piece has been hacked off. The doors open directly to the gaping construction site below. There is an old telephone jack on the wall as a sign of the house’s long history.

The contrast with the new residential buildings standing next to it is huge. Their balconies open onto the construction site, in the middle of which stands a gray granite office tower faithful to its 60s style.

A tape measure and a hammer have been left on top of the scaffolding surrounding the tower, even though the site has been quiet for a long time.

At issue is the former head office of the insurance company Pohjola in Munkkivuori, Helsinki, at the corner of Huopalahdentie and Lapinmäentie.

Despite its current rugged appearance, the Pohjola building was once the finest office building in the country, which we came even from abroad to watch. In the building, the employees had access to, among other things, a music hall, a shooting range and a swimming pool.

Now the office building has been empty for the last nine years. The last users OP-Pohjola and Sanoma Magazines moved out in 2015.

Originally the construction company SRV started work in the area in 2018. Since then, two office buildings in the area have been demolished and five new residential buildings have been built in their place. Two more are coming.

Helsingin Sanomat reports already in June 2023 the construction work of the Pohjola building in Munkkivuori, Helsinki from freezing in position.

As far as Pohjola House is concerned, no progress seems to have taken place in a year. The historic building and the surrounding construction site still stand in the middle of the new tower blocks, looking deserted.

SRV has previously said that it will develop a new type of use for the property, which combines housing and versatile services. Last summer from the company was told HS, that the years-long development of the Pohjola building concept was still in progress. At that time, there was no information about a more detailed schedule or concept.

SRV was unable to comment on the situation of the historic building to Helsingin Sanomat due to the upcoming semi-annual report. Until then, the company is in a closed window, which prevents statements from being made, among other things, about the company’s future prospects.

The house the first part was completed in 1969. The building was designed by an architect known for Helsinki’s Makkaratalo Heikki Castrén and his office. The building was later expanded in the 1980s.

The historic building is protected with the strictest sr-1 designation. In practice, the marking means that the building may not be demolished, and that such repairs or changes may not be made to it that weaken the architectural, historical and townscape values.

The oldest part of the Pohjola building, the A-tower, completed in 1969, is protected with its pedestals. In addition, several parts of the interior have been protected, such as the main entrance hall, the central hall, the sauna section on the representative floor and the swimming pool area on the basement floor.

Instead, the expansion parts built later have been demolished.

The protection of the building also brings a challenge to inventing a new purpose for its use. It is not possible to convert an office building into a hotel, for example.

Now the Pohjola house has quieted down. It stands abandoned looking in the middle of brand new apartment buildings. You can see things on the balconies of the apartment buildings, but on a Tuesday afternoon, the yards are quiet.

Sitting in front of the Pohjola building in front of the construction site Ari Kilpijärvi. He has moved next door to Pohjola house since the beginning of the year. According to him, it has been quiet at the construction site for six months.

Construction men and security guards have rarely been seen. Sometimes a group of youth has wandered into the place to commit vandalism.

The construction site has not really hindered living, even though the views are not pretty.

“It doesn’t bother me now, but it looks ugly. A Soviet gray lump of concrete.”

Ramble those who live on the other side of the Pohjola building are also on the line Arttu Malinen and Martta Kontkanen. They have come to pelt in front of the houses. In the back, there is an open field, on the site of which a residential building is to be built.

They have been living on the edge of Pohjola house since February. According to them, hardly anything has happened at the site during the five months.

So there has been no major damage to the construction site. Also for them, the harm is mainly visual.

“That’s bad-looking. It’s not nice to look at it from the kitchen window,” says Malinen.

Kilpijärvi has heard many thoughts from long-term residents about what is planned for the Pohjola block. Malinen has tried to look for information on the Internet.

The fate of the historic building still seems unclear.