Information on the Park
History and Architecture
The Töölönlahti district was city outskirts and countryside, an area without urban status until the early 1900’s. However, the area had been inhabited in a very small-scale way for a longer time than the Helsinki peninsula, the present city centre.
As early as in the 1200-1300’s, Swedish settlers founded a village in the area. Located possibly in the present Kisahalli and Opera neighbourhood, the village was named after the nearby little river. The river ran through a swamp, and therefore the name Tölå (Swamp river).
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In the 1600’s, the townspeople had their fields, meadows and pastures in the western shores of Töölönlahti and Kluuvinlahti bays. There was also the city’s brick works in the 1600 – 1700’s. The Turku road, the predecessor of today’s Mannerheimintie, developed on the western side of Töölönlahti bay. In the latter half of the 1700’s, Helsinki people started to develop horticulture on the shores of Töölönlahti bay. In the early 1810’s, large scale industry developed on the shores of Töölönlahti bay, for instance, the Kiseleff sugar refinery which operated until 1965. The Finnish National Opera now occupies the site of the sugar refinery. The Töölönlahti amusement traditions were born in the 1820-30’s. Several restaurants were founded on both shores of the bay, and lively social life, music, dancing, colourful performances and funfairs ensued. In the 1830-40’s, a town plan for villa plots was made. These were used for agriculture, horticulture, industry and housing. The aim was to beautify the outskirts of the city with roads bordered by trees and gardens. The most prominent of the villas was the Hakasalmi Villa with its large park, completed in 1846 and owned by procurator Carl Johan Walleen. In the latter half of the 1800’s, the gasworks founded near the present Post Office started a new era in the Töölönlahti environmental history. Besides the pollution emitted from the sugar refinery, more and more of dirtier and dirtier waste waters of the modern industry flowed into the bay. The building of the railway line in 1862 upset the Töölönlahti landscape, when it was decided that the railway be built across the bay on an embankment. This cut off the wide maritime views of Kaisaniemi and almost fenced off Töölönlahti from the sea. In some three decades, the landscape of Töölönlahti shores was urbanised and monumentalised along with large public buildings such as the National Gallery, the Railway Station, the Parliament and the Post Office.
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History More in Detail
1600 B.C.
Töölönlahti bay is forming when the channel leading to Taivallahti bay closes up and when the Helsinki peninsula is formed on the impact of land rising.
1200 – 1300 A.C.
Swedish settlers start a village on the Helsinki peninsula.
The village possibly located near Kisahalli sports centre was named after the nearby little river which flowed from Töölönjärvi lake (that time situated nearby the present day Pasila railway yard) into Töölönlahti bay. The river ran through a swamp, hence the name "Tölå" (Swamp River), which later took the form Tölö.
1500 A.C.
The channel that was located in the southern end of Töölönlahti and which connected the bay to the present Southern Harbour closed up due to land rising. The southern part of the bay became the shallow and muddy Kluuvinlahti bay which stretched up to the present statue of Runeberg in Esplanade Park.
1600 A.C.
The town of Helsinki, founded in 1550 at mouth of the river Vantaa was transferred in 1640 to the Vironniemi peninsula, in the surroundings of the present Senate Square.
In 1643, the Crown presented the town with all the lands of Tölö village and the entire Helsinki peninsula.
On the western shore of Töölönlahti and Kluuvinlahti bays, the townspeople had their fields, meadows and pastures, whose memory still lives in Helsinki nomenclature.
The brick factory of Helsinki was located at Töölönlahti in the 1600-1700’s.
The latter half of the 1700’s
Inspired by the spirit of the era of utility and the new trends transmitted by Sveaborg fortress Helsinki townspeople started to develop horticulture on Töölönlahti shores: merchant Anders Byström founded a large orchard with a carp pond in the neighbourhood of the present Kisahalli Sports Centre; merchant Myhr started a spa in the present Eläintarha area, governor Hans Henrik Boije had a large plantation built in the future Kaisaniemi area.
The townspeople used the shallow Kluuvinlahti bay as a refuse pit, where everything was dumped, animal carcasses included. Hence the sight and stench were horrid.
Demands were made to fill in the unsanitary bay and some shoreline plot-owners took the matter in their own hands.
Augustin Ehrensvärd moved that Kluuvinlahti bay be filled in and replaced with a channel, but this turned out to be too expensive.
Finally the Kluuvinlahti bay was left unfilled for military reasons, because its treacherous mud pool would protect the town against aggressors coming from the west.
The early 1800’s
Helsinki’s new status as the capital city of the Grand Duchy of Finland in 1812 made the preservation of Kluuvinlahti bay impossible.
The new town plans proposed that Kluuvinlahti bay be filled in and converted into a park area, channels and boulevards were planned.
The drainage was started in the 1830’s and was continued for decades; several new blocks planned in the drained areas, e.g. the present Aleksanterinkatu business quarters and the neighbourhood of the Railway Square, where building was extremely difficult due to watery and quaking ground.
All that was left of Kluuvinlahti bay is the Kaisaniemi pond, today a square concrete pool dating from 1928.
Large-scale industry sprang up on the shores of Töölönlahti when the Kiseleff sugar refinery was transferred from the Senate Square area to the present site of the National Opera in 1823. The refinery operated there until 1965.
The amusement traditions of Töölönlahti area were born in the 1820-30’s when several restaurants were established on both shores of the bay. These restaurants were frequented by townspeople and especially by students, and lively social life, music, dancing, colourful performances and funfairs ensued.
In the 1830-40’s, a town plan for villa plots was made, with the aim of utilising them for agriculture, horticulture, industry and housing. Another aim was to beautify the outskirts of the town with roads bordered by trees and gardens. The most prominent of the villas was the Hakasalmi Villa with its large park, completed in 1846 and owned by procurator Carl Johan Walleen.
Many of the romantic names of the villas bordering the bay are still in use: Birdsong, Pine Hill and, inspired by the Greek War of Independence, classic names such as Arcadia and Hesperia, to name a few.
The park zone surrounding Töölönlahti bay came into being during the 1800’s when the parks of Kaisaniemi, Hesperia and Eläintarha were developed.