VincentVergain D&C Kristuskyrkan

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View rom Sininen Huvila Ca.

1/ Introduction

On the east and north sides o Tlnlahti, is maybe set the most pictu-resque cityscape in Helsinki, Finland. This hilly shore and the open eld the baycreates delight both the passers-by and the coee amateurs, especially whenthe sun sets behind Tl neighbourhoods outstanding skyline. From Villa Kivior Sininen Huvila Ca, an architecture connoisseur would or sure distinguish

among others Alvar Aaltos pristine Finlandia Hall, the pretty National Museumclock tower, Sirns massive Parliament house, the tiled-like-a-swimming-hallOopperas aade and Helsinkis taller building, Torni. This place is denitely aventure point to recommend in every guidebook. But, surprisingly, none o the ar-chitectural or tourists guidebooks youll ever nd on Helsinki mentions an elegantStockholm-like spire, though its an essential element in the skyline. Tls Swe-dish-speaking Methodist church (Kristuskyrkan or Christ Church in Swedish) is,and thats a pity, a lacking element in architectural tours. This church, built in 1928,is located at the top o a small hill, at the corner o Vnrikki Stoolinkatu (Vnrikki

Stool Street named ater The tales o Ensign Stl, an epic poem written by Fin-lands national poet, J. L. Runeberg) and Apollonkatu (Apollo Street). Its architect,Atte Willberg, also known or the National-Romantic-style church he designed orKauniainens Methodist community in 1917, nevertheless proposed less than tenyears ater a design or Kristuskyrkan that looks like a maniesto or what we calltoday Nordic Classicism.

In this essay and through this specic but symptomatic example, I wantto question the little interest architectural circles express to that church in par-ticular, and the entire 1920s Classicist production o buildings; and thereby in-

vestigate its pertinence or todays architecture. In a rst part, I draw the generalpicture o the political, cultural and architectural context o this building. The se-cond part endeavours to understand the building in a complex urban context and,nally, the third part analyses in details its architectural characteristics.

Kristuskyrkanand NordicClassicism

Vincent VergainDesign & Culture

May 2010


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2/ Context

In 1928, as ar as culture is concerned, Finland was in a position so arrom the one we currently witness that we can today hardly imagine how it was.The cultural lie o the turn o the century contributed to the lourish o a strongnational identity and increased the interests and investments in the artistic dis-ciplines. But within ew years, a lot o things changed. Ater several years o trou-

bles due to Russias Bolshevik revolution and traumatic wars (independence andcivil wars), the countrys cultural circles were already deeply weakened. Even thehighly inluential National Romantic movement whose deepest goal was the ghtagainst russication o Finland ound itsel surely victorious but highly obsoletewhen the country ultimately obtained its independence. Simo Paavilainen evenstates that when Finland became independent in 1917 ater the years o oppres-sion [sortovuodet, the Finnish term or russication], it was only natural that theyoung generation o architects, many o whom were Swedish-speaking, shouldturn towards Scandinavia. 1/ Because its relationship with the Soviet Union was

tense, Finland had somehow no choice but increasing its economical partnershipsand cultural exchanges with western countries. But because new tensions wererising in Continental Europe at that time (post-war traumas, rise o nationalistparties, economic instability), Finland sought support rom and identied itselwith its neutral Nordic neighbours.

The cultural lie o countries such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway in the1910s, though they stayed apart rom the First World War, is strongly tied with it.Responding to ood shortages, increased living costs and housing and industrialneeds, Scandinavian architects were asked to create some kind o aesthetic or-

der out o these highly insecure times. Architectural aesthetic thereore ocusedon Classical architecture but, contrary to all the previous loans rom Antiquity inEuropean architecture, modesty was preerred to monumentality. This approachalso had its eect on what young architecture students studying classical ar-chitecture in the Mediterranean countries looked out or. In Italy, the traditionalstudy centre, they no longer concentrated on the established monuments but ontheir setting or more ordinary, simple and abundantly varied architecture, archi-tectura minore. 2/ Nordic Classicism was thus keener on subtle, moderate andinexpensive eects rather than mere monumental, ostentatious and kitsch ree-

rences to Antiquity and Baroque architecture.

And it is in this context o modern Classicism that Norden 3/ as a wholeemerged as an architectural province in which the dierences were outweighedby the links and common ideals.4/ This situation didnt last so long though. Archi-tecture historians generally agree on the years 1910 and 1930 as being the limitso the Classical period in Nordic architecture. However, the real breakthroughin Classicism was immediately beore the First World War, and the climax wasreached during the rst hal o the 20s. Already in 1925 the Esprit Nouveau wasnoticeable in the Nordic arena, and the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition is considered

as the event that introduced Functionalism in Scandinavia. The latter is maybethe reason why Nordic Classicism is such a orgotten era. Probably because i re-erred to a dierent kind o architecture, the pre-modern classicism o the Northhas been thought o as a mere interlude between two serious acts in architecture,

East side o Kristuskyrkanseen rom Tlnkatu

1/ Simo Paavilainen, Nordic

Classicism in Finland, inNordic Classicism 1910-1930,Helsinki, Museum o Finnish

Architecture, 1982, p. 81

2/ Henrik Andersson, ModernClassicism in Norden, in

Nordic Classicism 1910-1930,

Helsinki, Museum o FinnishArchitecture, 1982, p. 17

3/ Norden: Scandinavia andFinland (the term preerred

by the writer)

4/ ibid. p11


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conronts the living beauty and creativity o ancient urban districts, among themAthens Acropolis or Romes Forum, with the sterility o the new cities, especiallyViennas new Ring and Haussmanns plan or Paris. As a result o his research, hecriticized the isolated placement o churches and monuments and contended itwith examples showing how monuments were ormerly included in urban abricsand thereore specically presented to the viewer. Opposed to the ashion overy wide streets and squares, and the dogma o orthogonality and symmetry [],

he acknowledged an antagonism between the picturesque and the pragmatic. 7/

Original site plan (1918)

At the place where Kristuskyrkan stands today, Sonck rst planned a

large church. The topography a small hill led him to draw a picturesque seto streets with various widths and rhythms. As Pauli Blomstedt put it in his 1928Architectural Anaemia?, the eort to produce asymmetrical compositions, in allsuitable and unsuitable places 8/ is a common eature o 1920s Nordic archi-tecture. Apollonkatu is a perect example: the street meanders, ollowing the to-pography, among small piazzas and imposing apartment blocks. From an openpiazza on Runeberginkatu (Runeberg Street) where its starts, it rst goes straightup as it is lanked by regular seven-storey apartment blocks. Then a small churchappears on the let and the street immediately reaches a small green piazzamastered by an elegant primary school o a lower height. It then turns right in a

narrow and short segment, and then around 45 degrees to the let. The street goesdown and reaches a kind o tiny piazza at the crossroad o Vnrikki Stoolinkatu:Kistuskyrkans ront square. The two streets merge together or ew tens o me-ters and split again when Apollonkatu turns right in a sloping part. It ends when

7/ ibid.

8/ Pauli Blomstedt,Architectural Anaemia?

A nation examines itsel, inNordic Classicism 1910-1930,Helsinki, Museum o Finnish



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Tlnkatu (Tl Street) catches it. Vnrikki Stoolinkatu, which connects Museo-katu (Museum Street) at the South to Hesperianpuisto (Hesperia Esplanade), iso course less Byzantine but oers maybe as much variety in its spatial eects.However, the large church or which Sonck designed the streets was never built.The surrounding blocks were nally built in the 1920s depriving anyone to builda large scale church. But the urban setting remained and the ocal plot o thesystem stayed empty until Helsinkis Swedish-speaking Methodist community

(reshly expulsed rom the church Eliel Saarinen designed or them in Stockmandepartment stores vicinity less than ten years ago) bought the plot and launchedan architectural project or a church. The community needed a really small churchthat could easily t in the parcel. But the urban plan required a monumental ele-ment. With such a location (at the top o a hill and at the crossroad o two pic-turesque streets), a tall clock tower was absolutely needed otherwise the entireurban plan o the vicinity would have lost its strength and its interest.

View o the churchs vicinity rom the ront piazza

4/ Architecture

Kristuskyrkan is a complex mixed-used building. It is not only a church:the building includes, on top o the church itsel and several side rooms or thereligious ofce and the community (sacristy, meeting room, kitchen and dining

room), commercial and activity spaces (on the ground loor) and dwellings. Thebrie was tough to achieve because at the end, most o it is similar to an ordi-nary apartment block. However, as we saw previously, a strong urban elementwas needed. Thereore, architect Atte Willberg had to deal with the contradictoryexpectations o the brie: both monumentality and architettura minore. He clearlydecided to separate these elements o the programme into three buildings. First,the apartment block was conceived as an ordinary seven-storey block ollowingthe L-shaped street on the west side o the plot. Secondly, the church whosesize is humble occupies the east side o the plot along Vnrikki Stoolinkatu. And,nally, Willberg decided to emphasize a third element in the brie, solving in that

way its contradiction: the campanile. This out-standing element, not related inscale to the church, is located at the intersection o the axis o both streets. It isthereore clearly on view at the top o the hill.

Campanile


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Original Elevation: East Faade on Vnrikki Stoolinkatu (1927)


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The entire building, but more precisely the campanile itsel, may reer toRagnar stbergs architecture. In 1923, he completed the praised Stockholms cityhall. The city hall, which is indeed, ar rom being a Classical building, eclectic,manneristic, ull o reminiscences and associations, with pastiche as essentialingredient, takes us into a kaleidoscopic orm world. 9/ The use o red bricks ordramatic massive and windowless walls and the use o copper or Italianate elon-gated spires are common characteristics o both buildings. The red brick was at

that time an essential material or the construction and numerous Nordic Clas-sicist architects among them the Swede Cyrillus Johansson (1884-1959) used it.What we can call the stbergian brick style is said to be connected with Danishand North Western European tradition; but the particular use o red bricks andthe set o windows aiming at dramatic eects is an essential eature o the Nor-dic Classicist style.

Interestingly, Willberg even emphasized the picturesque o the urbanplan. Firstly, the high and slightly rounded campanile, right next to such a small

church creates an odd eect. Both are really detached and the tower is notconnected to the apartments wing. Thereore, rom Museokatu or example, thecampanile seems to be standing alone and this accentuates its height. The archi-tect used there another trick: arriving rom Museokatu, a passer-by doesnt seethe campanile rontally but rom a three-quarter angle. The church is never ron-tal, and thus appears dynamic. I we analyse the second perspective o the church(rom Tlnkatu), we notice that the church is seen in prole but the campanileitsel is not exactly in the axis. Thus it is not seen rontally neither. Moreover, thegeneral aesthetic o the building (mainly shaped by the red and uncovered bricksand the delicate green copper) is repeated on the entire building itsel and on

the surrounding buildings. On the opposite side indeed, one can notice a smalland elegant copper lantern at the top-loor corner and a small balcony recallingmemories rom Renaissance Italy.

Original Ground Floor Plan (1927)

9/ Henrik Andersson, ModernClassicism in Norden, in

Nordic Classicism 1910-1930,Helsinki, Museum o Finnish


Kristuskyrkan seen romMuseokatu

The small lantern at the top

o a neighbouring building


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5/ Conclusion

To conclude, Lars Soncks plan succeeded in providing picturesque ur-ban situations but, interestingly, the architecture built on the plots he drew isnot picturesque in the way Jugend architecture was. In the Nordic Classicism wecan witness in Tl, the buildings are never overloaded with decorations, twistedin weird shapes or covered by uncommon materials; they are made o the most

usual materials, in the most basic but rened orms and decorated with restrictedbut elegant elements. Thereore, the architecture is not in itsel truly picturesque,only the urban situations are. This is a relevant element or todays architecture.Indeed, because Modernist movement rejected Camillo Sittes thought and putapart Nordic Classicism, contemporary architecture, which inherited those doc-trines, is not able to reinvent urban planning and is thereore condemned to repeatendlessly the boring master plans or which Modern Architecture is criticized. Ocourse, the Post-Modernist movement reafrmed Sittes theories but rare are theactual projects built according to them. Convincing picturesque urban situations

were never reached by Post-Modernists and are still not: todays practitioners aremore interested in creating picturesque architecture. Nevertheless, I believe thatarchittetura minore must be the rule in urban architecture, and picturesquenessor monumentality, as exceptions, must be reserved or urban planners and major-buildings architects.

Original Elevation: South Faade on Apollonkatu (1927)

VincentVergain D&C Kristuskyrkan

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