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25-479: The building was designed by the master builder Gustaf Leander and it was built from 1845 to 1847. Garden wings were added in 1877 and 1880, and a lower bazaar wing designed by the architect Valter Jung was added on the Keskuskatu side in 1929. The facade on Aleksanterinkatu was modernised in 1936. The building was commissioned by the master draper and furniture manufacturer Jonas Litonius (1810 - 1864), and

50-540: A 1951 design contest. It was commissioned for the Finnish Hardware Association, after which it is named: Rautatalo literally translates as 'Iron House' or 'Iron Building'; hardware stores in Finnish being called rautakauppa ('iron shop', compare with ' ironmongers '). The exterior character of the building is dark and austere, clad with copper plate on its main façade and brown brick on

75-649: Is a two block -long pedestrian street in the centrally-located Kluuvi neighborhood of Helsinki , Finland. Along the street are located (from south to north): the Stockmann department store , the Rautatalo building, Domus Litonii , the World Trade Center and the Citycenter Mall , nicknamed " Makkaratalo " (lit. "sausage house"). Keskuskatu begins at Pohjoisesplanadi , across from

100-413: Is classically simplified and typical of its period, and for example the decorations in the windows vary greatly between the floors. The bazaar wing with its large windows and the baluster railings on its roof represents the modern business architecture typical to the 1920s. When the building was completed on 3 December 1847 it was one of the largest private houses in the entire capital area of Finland. It

125-524: The Rautatalo building constructed nearby. In 1957 the nine-story commercial building of the Jusélius foundation was constructed on the other side of the building at Aleksanterinkatu 48, and thus Domus Litonii became the last building in the city centre to remind of the city architecture in the 19th century. In the 1960s, the owners of Domus Litonii made thorough investigations about the possible reuse of

150-555: The Rautatalo building. The building was joined to the city's waterworks in 1879 and to the city's sewer works in 1880. It received its first telephone line in 1882. The telephone number 72 was assigned to one of the building's tenants, the accessor C. J. Wiklund. Plans to construct the Keskuskatu street through the block to help traffic between the Esplanadi park and the Helsinki Central railway station were started in

175-464: The Swedish Theatre , and ends when it meets Kaivokatu , across from Helsinki Central Station . It is intersected just south of its midpoint by Aleksanterinkatu . The street was originally named Hakasalmenkatu (literally " Hakasalmi Street "), Finland Swedish : Hagasundsgatan ) and was only one block long, stretching from Aleksanterinkatu to Kaivokatu . The idea to extend

200-638: The 1870s. From September 1848 to June 1877 Domus Litonii hosted the Technical Real School of Helsinki, later renamed to the Polytechnic School, which was the predecessor of the Helsinki University of Technology . The school rented the entire first floor of the building and three rooms in the cellar. After Jonas Litonius's furniture factory closed down in 1858 the industrial premises on the courtyard were also rented to

225-401: The 1910s. The businessman Allan Hjelt and the architect Eliel Saarinen started the project through their company Oy Centralgatan Ab in 1916 by buying out the properties on Aleksanterinkatu 52 and Pohjoinen Esplanadikatu 37-41. The company also offered to buy out Domus Litonii, but its owners refused the offer. Saarinen made plans for Keskuskatu and buildings to be constructed on it in 1916 and

250-523: The Litonius family continues to own and live in the building to this day. The building is the only remaining 19th century residential building in the entire centre of Helsinki. The building is protected by construction law, and it has undergone basic repairs from 1993 to 2003. Domus Litonii is a residential and commercial building representing the typical late Empire architecture in Helsinki. Its facade

275-492: The architect Eliel Saarinen started warming up the idea about punching the street through a city block. Their company Ab Centralgatan Oy bought Helsingin Rakennuskauppa Oy (named Oy Building at the time) and received ownership of the properties on Aleksanterinkatu 52 and Pohjoinen Esplanadikatu 37–41. Saarinen made plans of the street and its business properties in the same year, originally about one street's width to

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300-511: The building opposed the protection and gave af Schultén's statement of the lack of need of protection from November 1974 as the reason. However, the list was not changed, and Domus Litonii became a protected building when the general plan was approved in January 1976. Domus Litonii is the setting for the film script Lepäisit jo rauhassa, komisario Palmu ("You should rest in peace already, Inspector Palmu") written by Mika Waltari in 1963 which

325-587: The city council approved the plans on 6 March 1917. As the Keskuskatu street was constructed, the Ekberg house next to Domus Litonii was dismantled. This gave 7 metres more space to the Litonius family, so they decided to construct a lower bazaar wing on the lot. The wing was designed by the architect Valter Jung and completed in March 1929. It contained 12 business spaces for shops. The facade on Aleksanterinkatu

350-410: The lot which had grown immensely valuable. The architect Woldemar Baeckman made a design for an eight-story commercial building to be built in place of Domus Litonii, and an investigation about whether to protect the building was made in 1962. The architect Marius Af Schultén decided at the time that the building did not need to be protected, as it did not fit in with the buildings surrounding it. This

375-525: The negotiations, and ended up buying the entire company in April 1920. So the street was built as a direct continuation of Hakasalmenkatu all the way up to Pohjoisesplanadi according to the zoning plan approved in 1920, also giving the Stockmann block its current form. Continuing the street also affected the construction plans of the department store, requiring the dismantling of several old buildings such as

400-515: The old premises of Café Ekberg . Stockmann also received the right to build storage facilities under the street, which has later allowed building an underground corridor connecting the department store with the Akateeminen Kirjakauppa book store. In 1928 the street received its current name according to a proposal from Stockmann. Keskuskatu was later changed to a walking street in a renovation completed in summer 2014. As part of

425-443: The renovation, the street was paved with the non-repeating Penrose tiling . Keskuskatu is one of the properties in the original Finnish edition of Monopoly . Rautatalo Rautatalo ( Swedish : Järnhuset ) is an office building in central Helsinki , Finland , completed in 1955, and notable for having been designed by the Finnish architect Alvar Aalto . The building is based on Aalto's winning entry, Casa , to

450-496: The school. As the school's functions continuously expanded, it moved to its own premises to a new building near the Hietalahdentori market square in 1877. The building was thoroughly renovated and repaired from the inside after the Polytechnic School moved out of it to its own premises. A two-story residential building designed by H. E. Lohman was built in its courtyard in 1877, and later dismantled in 1955 to make room for

475-599: The side elevation. It was designed to match the height and proportions of the earlier building, created in classical style by Eliel Saarinen , which it abuts on one side (seen in the photo on the right). In contrast to the exterior, the interior is light and airy, making extensive use of white Carrara marble and travertine . At the heart of the interior space is an enclosed atrium , naturally-lit through 40 skylights , known as Marmoripiha ('Marble Courtyard'), with its design inspired by Mediterranean architecture. The lower floors house retail premises, including

500-450: The side of Hakasalmenkatu. The plan was published at the end of the year and was received by the city council for consideration. The council approved the plan in March 1917, but decided that a straight line with Hakasalmenkatu would be better for traffic. In the end of the year 1919 the city and the company Ab Centralgatan Oy started negotiations about moving the street as a direct continuation of Hakasalmenkatu. Soon Ab Stockmann Oy joined

525-404: The street through a city block to ease traffic congestion between Esplanadi park and the central railway station was first proposed by Helsinki Building Supplies, Ltd. ( Finnish : Helsingin Rakennuskauppa Oy ) in 1913. A design contest for the proposed street was announced at the time, but ultimately never conducted due to the outbreak of World War I . In 1916, the businessman Allan Hjelt and

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550-466: Was 35 metres wide and over 18 metres high. The first floor had 12 living rooms and three kitchens, and the second floor had 15 living rooms. There was also an underground cellar with 13 vaulted rooms for various purposes. Exceptionally for the time, the building also had its own running water, with a leaded pipe drawing water from a well in the middle of the cellar floor to the kitchens on the living floors. The general waterworks in Helsinki were only built in

575-534: Was in line with the scarcity of building protection in the early 1960s in Helsinki, with the most prominent example being the dismantling of the Norrmén house in 1960. In 1974 when the Helsinki general plan was made, a list of buildings to be protected in the city centre area was compiled, including the main building of Domus Litonii and its bazaar wing because of their late Empire style architecture. The owners of

600-414: Was modernised in 1936 and its shop windows were enlarged. During the renovation, the main building became almost completely a commercial building. The attic and third floor of the building were badly damaged during the bombing of Helsinki in 1944, when the building was hit by two incendiary bombs and one mine bomb. In 1955, part of the bazaar wing and the courtyard building were dismantled to make room for

625-612: Was ultimately left unfilmed. The main theme of the script written as a play is the protection of the old building: The magister Lautander is about to celebrate the 140-year history of his old home building by creating a foundation to ensure the safety of the building. However, he ends up murdered, and Inspector Palmu , already on retirement, is called to investigate the matter. 60°10′07.3″N 24°56′36.7″E  /  60.168694°N 24.943528°E  / 60.168694; 24.943528 Keskuskatu Keskuskatu , literally " Central Street " ( Finland Swedish : Centralgatan ),

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