Munkkiniemi
Encyclopedia
Munkkiniemi is a neighbourhood in Helsinki. Subdivisions within the district are Vanha Munkkiniemi
, Kuusisaari
, Lehtisaari
, Munkkivuori
, Niemenmäki
and Talinranta
.
The land in Munkkiniemi was from the 17th century a part of Munksnäs manor. In the 1910s grandiose plans were made to expand all of western Helsinki with tens of thousands of new inhabitants, the so called Munksnäs-Haga plan by Eliel Saarinen
. The construction of the new areas started slowly and it wasn't until the 1930s that a more extensive construction phase began in Munkkiniemi. From 1920 to 1946 Munkkiniemi was part of Huopalahti
municipality. Huopalahti including Munkkiniemi was incorporated with Helsinki in 1946.
Munkkiniemi is one of the more affluent areas of Helsinki. Characterized by the relatively high proportion of Swedish speakers, around twelve percent, and a socioeconomic structure heavy on upper management and professionals, the district is appreciated as a particularly safe and well-serviced part of the city. This is reflected in the high prices of housing.
, Munkkala and Munkinmäki. Munksnäs was first mentioned in 1540 in the form Munxneby and has later been spelled Muncknäs and Muncksnääs. In the year 1351 the king Magnus IV of Sweden
let Padise
monastery, close to Tallinn
, take over the parishes of Porvoo
, Sipoo
and Helsinge
. The Danish monastery came through this arrangement also in possession of Munksnäs that was a village within Helsinge parish. Munksnäs was probably a trading place for the lucrative fishing, and the catches were shipped as far as to Tallinn and Stockholm
. The monastery lost its right to the area in the beginning of the 15th century but was allowed to keep a share of its yield. After Gustavus Vasa
’s reformation all the lands of the church were ceded to the crown.
gave large areas of land west of Helsinki (Munkkiniemi, Tali
, Lauttasaari
and Hindersnäs (Meilahti
)) to rittmeister
Gert Skytte. Skytte was of Baltic noble descent and changed his name from German von Schütz to Swedish Skytte when he was raised to Swedish nobility. What Skytte achieved on Munksnäs manor is unclear. The town of Helsinki wanted to incorporate Munksnäs in 1650, but the widow of Skytte, Kristina Freijtag, refused and Helsinki only got Pikku Huopalahti
, Tali, Lauttasaari and Hindersnäs. Hindersnäs was reunited with the lands of Munksnäs in 1686, until Helsinki bought the land in 1871.
Charles XI
initiated the "reduction
s" in which much of the Nobility's lands were transferred to the Crown. Munksnäs was ceded to the crown in 1683 and the king kept the ownership until the mid 18th century. Munksnäs manor became a manor whose owner rented the land from the king. During 1712-1722 during the Greater Wrath
Munksnäs manor was uninhabited.
The Mattheiszen family, of Dutch origin, took over Munksnäs manor in 1744 and they bought it in 1759. From this time exists the first mentioning of the manor house that stood on the same place as today’s manor house. It consisted of six rooms of which two were called halls. The manor also had a brick factory, a sawmill and a flourmill. The brick factory was located at Tiilinmäki (Brick Hill) and the flourmill in the rapids of Mätäjoki in Pitäjänmäki
. In 1815 the middle part of the manor house got its present look. During this time the manor had one hind and five to seven maids, but the bulk of the work was done by crofters.
In 1837 the Ramsay
family bought Munksnäs manor. The glory days of the manor occurred during the Ramsays time and many prominent visitors visited the manor and feasts were held. General Major Anders Edvard Ramsay was a high ranked military officer in the Russian army and became noble in 1856. He hired the architect Carl Ludvig Engel
to rebuild the manor house to look like Haga Palace
in Stockholm. The house had two wings and a balustrade on the roof added. The reconstruction work was finished in 1839. In the 1830s an English park
was planted around the manor house and the farm buildings were removed away from the sea side. The bridge over to Meilahti was built in the 1840s.
Despite the high demand for summer house properties outside Helsinki in the end of the 19th century the Ramsays didn’t sell land. The only exception was Kuusisaari island that was sold in 1873. George Ramsays only son Edvard Ramsay was sickly and couldn’t take care of the manor. He therefore sold the manor’s land, 517 hectares, to the company M.G. Stenius for 1 500 000 marks in 1910. The family kept the manor house and the 9.5-hectare-park and called the property Villa Munksnäs. The homesteads Skyttas and Rosas in Konala
, covering 100 hectares, were also kept by the Ramsays. In the end the family sold all the land bit by bit. At the time of the purchase the city of Helsinki was criticized for not having bought the area. The city claimed that it was unaware of the selling, but the city council’s chairman Alfred Norrmén knew about the plans but thought the price was too high. The M.G. Stenius company did quickly begin to plan the newly bought area and the planning task was given to Eliel Saarinen
in 1912.
that were supposed to be turned into a suburb from being countryside. According to Saarinen’s prognoses Munkkiniemi could have 83 500 inhabitants by 1945 according to Alternative I or 25 000 according to Alternative III. Saarinen planned Munkkiniemi for 25 % well off, 30 % middle class and 45 % workers. Detached houses and rowhouses were planned by Laajalahti Bay and the middle class was placed north of Huopalahti
railway station. Workers were supposed to live next to the industries in Pitäjänmäki. The large middle part of the area consisted of rental housing regardless of social status. Saarinen predicted that car traffic would increase and the widest streets were planned as wide, straight boulevards, while housing streets were narrower, curvier and often ended at a small square. Three large parks were planned, one in the south, one in the north and one in the west of the planned area. High-rise blocks were supposed to be built as closed, but the inner yards had to be spacious: no extra buildings were allowed on the inner yards. Saarinen also introduced one of the first rowhouses to Finland. Only two buildings planned by Saarinen were ever built in Munkkiniemi: Munksnäs Pension (later the Cadet School) and a rowhouse on Hollantilaisentie street, both built in 1920.
The M.G. Stenius company started to develop the community by arranging transportation, otherwise nobody would move to the area. In 1912 the shareholders’ meeting of the Helsinki Tramway and Omnibus Company rejected M.G. Stenius’ proposal of building a tramway to Munkkiniemi. The debate was lively since many of the board members were also sitting in M.G. Stenius’ board. In 1913 the Tramway and Omnibus Company was bought by the City of Helsinki and M.G. Stenius could easily reach an agreement with the city of building a tramway. In December 1914 the tramway was opened on the two branches built by ASEA
, one to Munkkiniemi and one to Haaga. There were two rides an hour and with 217 inhabitants in Munkkiniemi the traffic wasn’t very lively, but during the summer season summer house owners and Sunday strollers made the cars sometimes crowded. Munkkiniemi and Haaga tramways were sold to the city in 1926.
Many suburban communities had been founded in Helsinge municipality outside Helsinki during the beginning of the 20th century, e.g. Oulunkylä
and Pakila
. For this type of community the term urban district (taajaväkinen yhdyskunta) was made to arrange the administration. Unusually, the Senate of Finland
took the initiative to found Munkkiniemi urban district, not the land owner or the municipality. Helsinge wanted instead to found Haaga-Munkkiniemi urban district, but the senate confirmed the founding of Munkkiniemi urban district in October 1915. The area was similar to that of Munksnäs manor, Kuusisaari excluded.
The first town plan for Munkkiniemi covered the districts 1 and 2 and was made by Eliel Saarinen in 1917. The first building project was Munksnäs Pension in 1918 that was supposed to lure well off people to the area, who would then like it and by a property. The economical situation after World War I
and the Finnish Civil War
was not suitable for a luxury facility like the Pension and it went bankrupt after a few years. The state bough the building and founded a cadet school there. Neither one of the first rowhouses in Finland were very successful. The neighbours couldn’t agree on the shared costs and the shared heating system. No more rowhouses were built and the rowhouse properties were changed to properties for small rental houses. The rest of the construction of the area was also slow. There was a shortage of money in the 1920s and hard to get mortgages. Many properties were bought but mostly for speculative purposes.
By the end of the 1920s the first construction boom began in Munkkiniemi. The first rental building was built in 1926 as well as restaurant Golf Casino that burned down in 1941. The M.G. Stenius company sold 31 properties in 1928, a number that would later only be exceeded in 1937. During the 1920s many condemned wooden houses from Helsinki were moved to Munkkiniemi, something that didn’t exactly correspond to Eliel Saarinen’s original plans. The company took care of most issues in the urban district and the administration was equal to the company. Many persons worked both for the company and the municipality; e.g. the accountant of M.G. Stenius was at the same time accountant for the municipality. During the first eight years the municipal council only gathered six times. The municipality took only care of health care, schools and poor relief, while the urban districts of Munkkiniemi and Lauttasaari took care of the other municipal obligations. The company invested a lot in infrastructure. In 1897 a higher Swedish elementary school was founded in Munkkiniemi and a lower one was founded in 1923. In 1927 and 1932 a lower, respective higher, Finnish elementary school were founded since many Finnish speaking families moved to the area.
In the 1930s building regulations in Munkkiniemi had to be remade, because the new law didn’t allow closed blocks anywhere else than in towns. This led to many problems because properties had already been sold. The effects can be seen around Munkkiniemi Avenue, where the otherwise closed blocks are open towards the south. It was during this time 1936-1938 that Munkkiniemi expanded really fast. 5 000 new housing rooms were built, especially around the avenue and by Laajalahti Bay and 150 million marks in building loans were issued in the municipality. After a few complaints and uncertainties about the building regulations Munkkiniemi was put into a building ban in October 1938 and it was extended many times until the end of World War II
. One reason for the ban was the “water crisis” of 1938.
In May 1938 a shortage of water occurred in Munkkiniemi. Water consumption had been about 90 litres per inhabitant per day during all of the 1930s and the water supply was thought to be enough for new inhabitants. In 1937 1 500 new rooms had been built and the speed of construction was considerable. During two fires in May that much water had been used that the reserve supplies emptied. When the pumps were reconnected the nervous inhabitants filled buckets and tubs with water which led to that the water supplies emptied again. The consumption was suddenly 150 litres per person per day and the supplies never had time to recover. M.G. Stenius applied to build a water pipe from Helsinki and buy the city’s water. Helsinki already sold water to other nearby municipalities like Oulunkylä
. The City of Helsinki was at the same time negotiating to buy the company and refused to give permission to build a water pipe, because this gave them a great bargaining position. After a dry summer and unsuccessful attempts to find more water sources a building ban was issued in Munkkiniemi in October 1938. Tenants refused to pay rents and a witch-hunt against the company and the municipality was pursued. Water consumption had reached 250 litres per person per day in the autumn and the company blamed the inhabitants for wasting water and even sabotage. In November the owners of M.G. Stenius gave up and sold their stocks to the City of Helsinki that gained large areas of land in Munkkiniemi, Haaga, Leppävaara
and Laajalahti
. Already two weeks after the purchase of M.G. Stenius the city began building a water pipe to Munkkiniemi and in January 1939 the people of Munkkniemi were drinking Helsinki water.
Demographic development for Munkkiniemi urban district:
) that was owned by Helsinki but the application was rejected. In 1926 Huopalahti applied to be separated into two parts, Munkkiniemi and Lauttasaari, but neither this application was accepted. In 1936 the state’s investigator Yrjö Harvia came with his seven-year-long and a thousand pages long report and suggested the area of Helsinki to be expanded from 2 925 to 21 116 hectares, which included most suburbs. Huoplahti was strongly against being incorporated with Helsinki, but because of WWII the decision was postponed, which was seen as a victory by some opponents. In 1944, two weeks after the cease fire agreement with the Soviet Union, the government decided that Huopalahti, Haaga, Oulunkylä and Kulosaari
municipalities, as well as large areas of Helsinge would be incorporated with Helsinki starting from January 1946.
Vanha Munkkiniemi
Vanha Munkkiniemi , Gamla Munksnäs is a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland....
, Kuusisaari
Kuusisaari
Kuusisaari , Granö is a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland....
, Lehtisaari
Lehtisaari
Lehtisaari may refer to several places in Finland:*Lehtisaari, Helsinki, neighbourhood in Helsinki*Lehtisaari, Jyväskylä, district and neighborhood in Jyväskylä...
, Munkkivuori
Munkkivuori
Munkkivuori is a quarter of the Munkkiniemi neighbourhood in Helsinki. The buildings and the plan of site are typical of the late 1950s. Most of the residential buildings in Munkkivuori are within a loop formed by Ulvilantie ring road...
, Niemenmäki
Niemenmäki
Niemenmäki is a quarter of the Munkkiniemi neighbourhood in Helsinki. Niemenmäki was constructed in the early sixties. The nearby Shopping center provides everyday services to Niemenmäki inhabitants. Huopalahdentie road separates Niemenmäki from Munkkivuori in the West and Lapinmäentie road from...
and Talinranta
Talinranta
Talinranta is a neighbourhood in Munkkiniemi district of Helsinki, Finland. It is located west from Munkkivuori and south from Tali. In south, Finnish national road 1 separates Talinranta from Vanha Munkkiniemi....
.
The land in Munkkiniemi was from the 17th century a part of Munksnäs manor. In the 1910s grandiose plans were made to expand all of western Helsinki with tens of thousands of new inhabitants, the so called Munksnäs-Haga plan by Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
. The construction of the new areas started slowly and it wasn't until the 1930s that a more extensive construction phase began in Munkkiniemi. From 1920 to 1946 Munkkiniemi was part of Huopalahti
Huopalahti
Huopalahti was a municipality during the years 1920–1945 in Uusimaa, Finland. The municipality was bilingual.Current areas of Munkkiniemi, Lauttasaari and parts of northern Pasila were parts of Huopalahti....
municipality. Huopalahti including Munkkiniemi was incorporated with Helsinki in 1946.
Munkkiniemi is one of the more affluent areas of Helsinki. Characterized by the relatively high proportion of Swedish speakers, around twelve percent, and a socioeconomic structure heavy on upper management and professionals, the district is appreciated as a particularly safe and well-serviced part of the city. This is reflected in the high prices of housing.
History
Despite its name, Munkkiniemi /Munksnäs (Monk Cape), there has never been a monastery there. Munkkiniemi is one of many monk-related place names on the south coast of Finland, like MunkkisaariMunkkisaari
Munkkisaari , Munkholmen is a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland....
, Munkkala and Munkinmäki. Munksnäs was first mentioned in 1540 in the form Munxneby and has later been spelled Muncknäs and Muncksnääs. In the year 1351 the king Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus Eriksson as Magnus IV was king of Sweden , including Finland, as Magnus VII King of Norway , including Iceland and Greenland, and also ruled Scania . He has also vindictively been called Magnus Smek...
let Padise
Padise
-Gallery:...
monastery, close to Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
, take over the parishes of Porvoo
Porvoo
Porvoo is a city and a municipality situated on the southern coast of Finland approximately east of Helsinki. Porvoo is one of the six medieval towns in Finland, first mentioned as a city in texts from 14th century...
, Sipoo
Sipoo
Sipoo is a municipality of Finland. Its seat is in Nikkilä/Nickby.It is the eastern neighbour of Helsinki and is located in the Uusimaa region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of ofwhich is water...
and Helsinge
Helsinge (disambiguation)
Helsinge may refer to:*the former Danish municipality of Helsinge*the Danish town of Helsinge*the Swedish name for the Finnish City of Vantaa until 1972**the Swedish name for a village in Vantaa, in Finnish Helsingin pitäjän kirkonkylä...
. The Danish monastery came through this arrangement also in possession of Munksnäs that was a village within Helsinge parish. Munksnäs was probably a trading place for the lucrative fishing, and the catches were shipped as far as to Tallinn and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
. The monastery lost its right to the area in the beginning of the 15th century but was allowed to keep a share of its yield. After Gustavus Vasa
Gustavus Vasa
Gustavus Vasa may refer to:* King Gustav I of Sweden* The play Gustavus Vasa by Henry Brooke, first English play to be banned under the Licensing Act 1737* Alternate name of Olaudah Equiano, African ex-slave living in 18th century Britain...
’s reformation all the lands of the church were ceded to the crown.
Munksnäs manor
On March 27, 1629, king Gustavus AdolphusGustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
gave large areas of land west of Helsinki (Munkkiniemi, Tali
Tali
-Places:* Tali, township, part of Kozhikode, Kerala* Tali, Finland, town in Finland* Tali, Helsinki, Finland* Tali, South Sudan, town in South Sudan* Tali, Estonia, village in Saarde Parish, Pärnu County, Estonia...
, Lauttasaari
Lauttasaari
Lauttasaari is an island and neighbourhood of Western Helsinki , about 3 kilometres west of the city centre....
and Hindersnäs (Meilahti
Meilahti
Meilahti is a neighbourhood of Helsinki between Mannerheimintie and a bay named Seurasaarenselkä. Most of the houses in Meilahti were built in the 1930s and 1940s. Meilahti is home to over 6700 people including the President of Finland Tarja Halonen who lives on the shore in the President's...
)) to rittmeister
Rittmeister
Rotamaster was the military rank of a commissioned cavalry officer in charge of a squadron , the equivalent of O3 or Captain, in the German-speaking armies, Austro-Hungarian, Polish-Lithuanian, Russian and some other states.The exact name of this rank maintains a variety of spellings in different...
Gert Skytte. Skytte was of Baltic noble descent and changed his name from German von Schütz to Swedish Skytte when he was raised to Swedish nobility. What Skytte achieved on Munksnäs manor is unclear. The town of Helsinki wanted to incorporate Munksnäs in 1650, but the widow of Skytte, Kristina Freijtag, refused and Helsinki only got Pikku Huopalahti
Pikku Huopalahti
Pikku Huopalahti is a neighbourhood of Helsinki between Mannerheimintie in the east and Huopalahdentie to its west...
, Tali, Lauttasaari and Hindersnäs. Hindersnäs was reunited with the lands of Munksnäs in 1686, until Helsinki bought the land in 1871.
Charles XI
Charles XI of Sweden
Charles XI also Carl, was King of Sweden from 1660 until his death, in a period in Swedish history known as the Swedish empire ....
initiated the "reduction
Reduction (Sweden)
In the reductions in Sweden, fiefs that had been granted to the Swedish nobility were returned to the Crown.The first reduction under Charles X Gustav of Sweden in 1655 restored a quarter of "donations" made after 1632. In the Great Reduction of 1680 under Charles XI of Sweden the Crown...
s" in which much of the Nobility's lands were transferred to the Crown. Munksnäs was ceded to the crown in 1683 and the king kept the ownership until the mid 18th century. Munksnäs manor became a manor whose owner rented the land from the king. During 1712-1722 during the Greater Wrath
Greater Wrath
The Greater Wrath is a term used in Finnish history for the Russian invasion and subsequent military occupation of Eastern Sweden, now Finland, from 1714 until the treaty of Nystad 1721, which ended the Great Northern War, although sometimes the term is used to denote all of the Great Northern...
Munksnäs manor was uninhabited.
The Mattheiszen family, of Dutch origin, took over Munksnäs manor in 1744 and they bought it in 1759. From this time exists the first mentioning of the manor house that stood on the same place as today’s manor house. It consisted of six rooms of which two were called halls. The manor also had a brick factory, a sawmill and a flourmill. The brick factory was located at Tiilinmäki (Brick Hill) and the flourmill in the rapids of Mätäjoki in Pitäjänmäki
Pitäjänmäki
Pitäjänmäki is a district located on the westernmost district of Helsinki, Finland, near the border with Espoo. There are many IT and machine manufacturing companies in the area, especially around the Valimo railway station. Such companies include Nokia, Nokia Siemens Networks, ABB, Fujitsu...
. In 1815 the middle part of the manor house got its present look. During this time the manor had one hind and five to seven maids, but the bulk of the work was done by crofters.
In 1837 the Ramsay
Ramsay
Ramsay may refer to:*Ramsay , for people named Ramsay*Ramsay , an impact crater on the Moon*Ramsay, Calgary, Alberta, Canada*Ramsay, Michigan, U.S.*Ramsay *Electoral district of Ramsay, in South Australia...
family bought Munksnäs manor. The glory days of the manor occurred during the Ramsays time and many prominent visitors visited the manor and feasts were held. General Major Anders Edvard Ramsay was a high ranked military officer in the Russian army and became noble in 1856. He hired the architect Carl Ludvig Engel
Carl Ludvig Engel
Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel , was a German architect known for his neoclassical style. He had a great impact on the architecture of Finland in the first part of the 19th century....
to rebuild the manor house to look like Haga Palace
Haga Palace
Haga Palace , formerly known as the Queen's Pavilion , is located in Hagaparken, Solna Municipality in Metropolitan Stockholm, Sweden. The palace, built in 1802 1805, was modelled after ballet-master Gallodiers Italian villa in Drottningholm by architect Carl Christoffer Gjörwell on appointment by...
in Stockholm. The house had two wings and a balustrade on the roof added. The reconstruction work was finished in 1839. In the 1830s an English park
English Park
English Park is a multi-use stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Canterbury United. The stadium has a capacity of 9,000 people....
was planted around the manor house and the farm buildings were removed away from the sea side. The bridge over to Meilahti was built in the 1840s.
Despite the high demand for summer house properties outside Helsinki in the end of the 19th century the Ramsays didn’t sell land. The only exception was Kuusisaari island that was sold in 1873. George Ramsays only son Edvard Ramsay was sickly and couldn’t take care of the manor. He therefore sold the manor’s land, 517 hectares, to the company M.G. Stenius for 1 500 000 marks in 1910. The family kept the manor house and the 9.5-hectare-park and called the property Villa Munksnäs. The homesteads Skyttas and Rosas in Konala
Konala
Konala , Kånala is a subdistrict of Helsinki, Finland. Konala has about 4500 inhabitants and about 3000 jobs. Konala is situated in Luoteis-Helsinki, north of Kehä I and Pitäjänmäki, west of Malminkartano and Kannelmäki...
, covering 100 hectares, were also kept by the Ramsays. In the end the family sold all the land bit by bit. At the time of the purchase the city of Helsinki was criticized for not having bought the area. The city claimed that it was unaware of the selling, but the city council’s chairman Alfred Norrmén knew about the plans but thought the price was too high. The M.G. Stenius company did quickly begin to plan the newly bought area and the planning task was given to Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
in 1912.
Eliel Saarinen’s Munksnäs-Haga plan
Eliel Saarinen’s grandiose plans were presented to the public in the autumn of 1915 in the form of a book and an exhibition with models and drawings. The plan covered 860 hectares in Munkkiniemi and HaagaHaaga
Haaga is a district and a former municipality in the Western major district of Helsinki with a population of 25,435.Haaga is divided into four subareas, which are Pohjois-Haaga , Etelä-Haaga , Kivihaka and Lassila.Haaga has two railway stations: Huopalahti railway station in south and...
that were supposed to be turned into a suburb from being countryside. According to Saarinen’s prognoses Munkkiniemi could have 83 500 inhabitants by 1945 according to Alternative I or 25 000 according to Alternative III. Saarinen planned Munkkiniemi for 25 % well off, 30 % middle class and 45 % workers. Detached houses and rowhouses were planned by Laajalahti Bay and the middle class was placed north of Huopalahti
Huopalahti
Huopalahti was a municipality during the years 1920–1945 in Uusimaa, Finland. The municipality was bilingual.Current areas of Munkkiniemi, Lauttasaari and parts of northern Pasila were parts of Huopalahti....
railway station. Workers were supposed to live next to the industries in Pitäjänmäki. The large middle part of the area consisted of rental housing regardless of social status. Saarinen predicted that car traffic would increase and the widest streets were planned as wide, straight boulevards, while housing streets were narrower, curvier and often ended at a small square. Three large parks were planned, one in the south, one in the north and one in the west of the planned area. High-rise blocks were supposed to be built as closed, but the inner yards had to be spacious: no extra buildings were allowed on the inner yards. Saarinen also introduced one of the first rowhouses to Finland. Only two buildings planned by Saarinen were ever built in Munkkiniemi: Munksnäs Pension (later the Cadet School) and a rowhouse on Hollantilaisentie street, both built in 1920.
The urban district is founded
ASEA
Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget was a Swedish industry company. It merged with the Swiss Brown, Boveri & Cie in 1988 to form Asea Brown Boveri...
, one to Munkkiniemi and one to Haaga. There were two rides an hour and with 217 inhabitants in Munkkiniemi the traffic wasn’t very lively, but during the summer season summer house owners and Sunday strollers made the cars sometimes crowded. Munkkiniemi and Haaga tramways were sold to the city in 1926.
Many suburban communities had been founded in Helsinge municipality outside Helsinki during the beginning of the 20th century, e.g. Oulunkylä
Oulunkylä
Oulunkylä is a suburb and a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is located north from the center of the city.It has been inhabited since the 13th century. Earlier an independent municipality, it was made part of Helsinki in 1946. A rink used for speed skating and bandy is...
and Pakila
Pakila
Pakila is a neighbourhood in Northern Helsinki. It comprises Länsi-Pakila and Itä-Pakila. Pakila has approximately 9,829 inhabitants which of 6464 lives in Länsi-Pakila and 3365 in Itä-Pakila...
. For this type of community the term urban district (taajaväkinen yhdyskunta) was made to arrange the administration. Unusually, the Senate of Finland
Senate of Finland
The Senate of Finland combined the functions of cabinet and supreme court in the Grand Duchy of Finland from 1816 to 1917 and in the independent Republic of Finland from 1917 to 1918....
took the initiative to found Munkkiniemi urban district, not the land owner or the municipality. Helsinge wanted instead to found Haaga-Munkkiniemi urban district, but the senate confirmed the founding of Munkkiniemi urban district in October 1915. The area was similar to that of Munksnäs manor, Kuusisaari excluded.
The first town plan for Munkkiniemi covered the districts 1 and 2 and was made by Eliel Saarinen in 1917. The first building project was Munksnäs Pension in 1918 that was supposed to lure well off people to the area, who would then like it and by a property. The economical situation after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Finnish Civil War
Finnish Civil War
The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...
was not suitable for a luxury facility like the Pension and it went bankrupt after a few years. The state bough the building and founded a cadet school there. Neither one of the first rowhouses in Finland were very successful. The neighbours couldn’t agree on the shared costs and the shared heating system. No more rowhouses were built and the rowhouse properties were changed to properties for small rental houses. The rest of the construction of the area was also slow. There was a shortage of money in the 1920s and hard to get mortgages. Many properties were bought but mostly for speculative purposes.
A part of Huopalahti municipality
Haaga urban district had applied to found a parish of its own in 1914, because a parish was a prerequisite to founding a municipality. Huopalahti parish was founded in 1917 and was made up of Lauttasaari, Munkkiniemi, Pikku Huopalahti and Haaga. According to the new Municipality Law of 1917 a referendum had to be held if one part of a municipality wanted to separate. Of the inhabitants of Helsinge 59 % voted yes to separate Huopalahti in a referendum held in January 1919. In the area of the becoming municipality only 53 persons (8 %) voted no. This referendum was the only of its kind in Finland since the law was changed in 1919. Huopalahti municipality was founded in 1920, but Haaga separated in 1923 and became a market town. At this time Munkkiniemi had 401 inhabitants and the entire municipality 1 371 inhabitants.By the end of the 1920s the first construction boom began in Munkkiniemi. The first rental building was built in 1926 as well as restaurant Golf Casino that burned down in 1941. The M.G. Stenius company sold 31 properties in 1928, a number that would later only be exceeded in 1937. During the 1920s many condemned wooden houses from Helsinki were moved to Munkkiniemi, something that didn’t exactly correspond to Eliel Saarinen’s original plans. The company took care of most issues in the urban district and the administration was equal to the company. Many persons worked both for the company and the municipality; e.g. the accountant of M.G. Stenius was at the same time accountant for the municipality. During the first eight years the municipal council only gathered six times. The municipality took only care of health care, schools and poor relief, while the urban districts of Munkkiniemi and Lauttasaari took care of the other municipal obligations. The company invested a lot in infrastructure. In 1897 a higher Swedish elementary school was founded in Munkkiniemi and a lower one was founded in 1923. In 1927 and 1932 a lower, respective higher, Finnish elementary school were founded since many Finnish speaking families moved to the area.
In the 1930s building regulations in Munkkiniemi had to be remade, because the new law didn’t allow closed blocks anywhere else than in towns. This led to many problems because properties had already been sold. The effects can be seen around Munkkiniemi Avenue, where the otherwise closed blocks are open towards the south. It was during this time 1936-1938 that Munkkiniemi expanded really fast. 5 000 new housing rooms were built, especially around the avenue and by Laajalahti Bay and 150 million marks in building loans were issued in the municipality. After a few complaints and uncertainties about the building regulations Munkkiniemi was put into a building ban in October 1938 and it was extended many times until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. One reason for the ban was the “water crisis” of 1938.
In May 1938 a shortage of water occurred in Munkkiniemi. Water consumption had been about 90 litres per inhabitant per day during all of the 1930s and the water supply was thought to be enough for new inhabitants. In 1937 1 500 new rooms had been built and the speed of construction was considerable. During two fires in May that much water had been used that the reserve supplies emptied. When the pumps were reconnected the nervous inhabitants filled buckets and tubs with water which led to that the water supplies emptied again. The consumption was suddenly 150 litres per person per day and the supplies never had time to recover. M.G. Stenius applied to build a water pipe from Helsinki and buy the city’s water. Helsinki already sold water to other nearby municipalities like Oulunkylä
Oulunkylä
Oulunkylä is a suburb and a neighbourhood of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is located north from the center of the city.It has been inhabited since the 13th century. Earlier an independent municipality, it was made part of Helsinki in 1946. A rink used for speed skating and bandy is...
. The City of Helsinki was at the same time negotiating to buy the company and refused to give permission to build a water pipe, because this gave them a great bargaining position. After a dry summer and unsuccessful attempts to find more water sources a building ban was issued in Munkkiniemi in October 1938. Tenants refused to pay rents and a witch-hunt against the company and the municipality was pursued. Water consumption had reached 250 litres per person per day in the autumn and the company blamed the inhabitants for wasting water and even sabotage. In November the owners of M.G. Stenius gave up and sold their stocks to the City of Helsinki that gained large areas of land in Munkkiniemi, Haaga, Leppävaara
Leppävaara
Leppävaara or Alberga is a district of Espoo, a city in Finland. A major traffic hub in the Greater Helsinki region, the Rantarata rail line and Kehä I, the busiest road in Finland, cross in Leppävaara. The Sello Shopping Centre is also located there...
and Laajalahti
Laajalahti
Laajalahti or Bredvik is a district of Espoo, a city in Finland....
. Already two weeks after the purchase of M.G. Stenius the city began building a water pipe to Munkkiniemi and in January 1939 the people of Munkkniemi were drinking Helsinki water.
Demographic development for Munkkiniemi urban district:
| Year | 1915 | 1920 | 1925 | 1930 | 1935 | 1940 | 1945 |
| Inhabitants | 217 | 304 | 373 | 1042 | 1469 | 5645 | 7251 |
Incorporation with Helsinki
The City of Helsinki had during a long time been interested in incorporating many small municipalities close to the city. In 1918 Helsinge municipality proposed that Helsinki would take over the suburbs in Helsinge, because the farmers in Helsinge were unwilling to fund the rising costs of the suburban areas. During the 1920s many proposals were made to incorporate areas with Helsinki but they didn’t lead to any decisions. Huopalahti wanted to get rid of Fredriksberg (PasilaPasila
is a suburb in Helsinki, Finland. It is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordering Alppila to the south, Central Park to the west and Vallila to the east....
) that was owned by Helsinki but the application was rejected. In 1926 Huopalahti applied to be separated into two parts, Munkkiniemi and Lauttasaari, but neither this application was accepted. In 1936 the state’s investigator Yrjö Harvia came with his seven-year-long and a thousand pages long report and suggested the area of Helsinki to be expanded from 2 925 to 21 116 hectares, which included most suburbs. Huoplahti was strongly against being incorporated with Helsinki, but because of WWII the decision was postponed, which was seen as a victory by some opponents. In 1944, two weeks after the cease fire agreement with the Soviet Union, the government decided that Huopalahti, Haaga, Oulunkylä and Kulosaari
Kulosaari
Kulosaari is an island and a suburb in Helsinki, Finland. It is also the 42nd neighbourhood of the city. Construction of villas on the island started in the beginning of the 20th century, and a bridge from Sörnäinen was opened in 1919...
municipalities, as well as large areas of Helsinge would be incorporated with Helsinki starting from January 1946.
Important buildings
- Villa Aalto, Alvar AaltoAlvar AaltoHugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
’s home, Riihitie 20. - Munksnäs Pension, Kadetintie 1, architect Eliel Saarinen, 1920. During 1923-1940 the building functioned as a cadet school, today the State's development central (HAUS) is located in the building.
- One of Finland’s first rowhouses, Hollantilaisentie 12-20, architect Eliel Saarinen, 1919-1920.
- Hotel Kalastajatorppa (Fisherman’s cottage), Kalastajartorpantie 1 and 2-4. The new part is from 1975 and is planned by Einari Teräsvirta. The old congress part is built in 1937 and 1939, architect Jarl Eklund. The original crofter’s cottage that gave the hotel its name was demolished in 1936, but a local famous basketball team established in 1932 still has its name after that - Torpan PojatTorpan PojatTorpan Pojat is a basketball club, based in Helsinki, Finland. It was formed in 1932, originally as a sport club for the school of Munkkiniemi. With approximately 500 members, it includes men's, women's, and junior teams...
, which means cottage boys in English. - The State’s guest house, Kalastajatorpantie 3, architect Einari Teräsvirta
- Munksnäs manor, Kartanontie 1. The main building is from 1815 and was expanded in 1839. An English garden surrounds the manor house. The building is owned by KoneKONEKone Oyj , founded in 1910 and headquartered in Espoo, Finland, is an international engineering and service company employing some 32,500 personnel worldwide. The firm is the fourth largest manufacturer of elevators worldwide, a leading manufacturer of escalators, and also provides maintenance...
Corporation. - A neogothic grain silo from the 1840s, later renovated and converted to a loft apartment. HIM vocalist Ville ValoVille ValoVille Hermanni Valo is a Finnish singer, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. He has received the "Golden God" award in 2004 by the heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer. Valo has a baritone vocal range. Valo was ranked number 80 in Hit Paraders Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time...
resides in the apartment. - Finland's first shopping center, built in 1959 in the MunkkivuoriMunkkivuoriMunkkivuori is a quarter of the Munkkiniemi neighbourhood in Helsinki. The buildings and the plan of site are typical of the late 1950s. Most of the residential buildings in Munkkivuori are within a loop formed by Ulvilantie ring road...
quarter.