lewism

We recently went to Hvitträsk so I thought it only right to blog it here. Hvitträsk was built between 1901–1903 by architects Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen. In 1900 at the Paris World Exhibition they had made an instant international name for themselves with their Finnish Pavilion although only just out of college. The work must have been rolling in because they decided to decamp from Helsinki to just outside the city. Here they built for themselves and their families Hvitträsk which was at once a studio for all of them and a home for each of their families. Each of them designed their own house and a joint studio was built between two of them. Designed in the national romantic style these buildings are fantastically situated on a promontory overlooking a large lake just outside Helsinki. Here they tried to follow the Arts and Crafts resolution of living an artistic life a reaction against the new industrialisation of the age¹. However it doesn’t seem to have endured long, with their feuding and coveting of each others wives and relations the group soon split up it seems².The house that is now the museum is Saarinens one and the restaurant there now is in the Herman Gesellius house opposite the other two.See some better photos by Axil of Aevil and there is another article here or have a look at more of my Hvitträsk photos.

¹Note this is the reverse of most architects who start in their bedrooms and end up in a downtown loft with a big office.

²The Guardian article about Arts and Crafts has that Saarinen eventually headed for the US with
Gesellius’s sister with Saarinen’s first wife staying behind with
Gesellius.