LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSES IN KALAMAJA

Transcription

1 Estonian Academy of Arts Typomorphology project LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSES IN KALAMAJA Anita Pinter, Laura Uibopuu, Kadri Vaher, Elo Liina Kaivo Tutors: Edina Dufala-Pärn, Panu Lehtovuori Tallinn 2006

2 INDEX OF TABLES INTRODUCTION TIME SCALE LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES VARIATIONS OF LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES - LENDER HOUSE - TALLINN HOUSE - COMPARING LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSES - CHANGES ACROSS TIME FACADE STAIRCASES FUNCTIONS DISTRIBUTION OF LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES REFERENCES

3 INTRODUCTION The aim of this paper is to examine more closer the Lender and Tallinn house types in Kalamaja. It must be said that these are not the only house types found in the study area, but the reason to concentrate on these two types is that they constitute the greater part of the wooden houses in Kalamaja. And Kalamaja is by far most known and appreciated by its wooden buildings and the atmosphere shaped up by them. Another reason for focusing on these two is that there has not been any concrete and sufficient studies on Lender or Tallinn houses. These two types are usually just mentioned or referred to in the context of broader writings about wooden architecture in Estonia. We would like to turn the attention towards the forgotten and so-called ordinary wooden slum houses. And by doing this to change that common understanding.

4 NAME Kalamaja means a house of fish. Although the name is known to originate from the fishermens settlements the two legends tell the different stories. LEGEND I LEGEND II

5 the size and growth of Kalamaja settlement was restricted by military purposes; building of stone houses or even proper wooden houses was forbidden outside city walls 13th century Permanent settlement; fishing village Burning down in The Livonian War The biggest suburb of Medieval Tallinn Noblessner Volta 1900 Franz Krull In the end of the 19th and in the beginning of the 20th century most of the buildings of nowadays were constructed; change from one-story-houses to a single family or two-story-houses for rent; straightening of the streets; the rise of trading and servicing enterprises The main stimulus factor for the development of Kalamaja The oldest houses date back to that time inhabitants Building of Kopli street as Erasing Tallinn from Railway and the road to the new graveyard the list of burgs Balti Jaam 1710 The Northern War 1854 The Crimean War 19th century Industrialization The First World War 19th/20th century Taking down the fences; inhabitants destroying the feeling of 'my own' The War of Estonian Republic; The Second World War. Independence; the best times for Incorporation of Estonia with the Soviet Union; Kalamaja was Kalamaja as a unique change of regime and economic devastated and complete settlement system; decline of Kalamaja The decline of trade and services; violent behavior of Russian soldiers; deportation of Estonian citizens; changing the names of streets and enterprises; reorganization of the industry; bringing in of foreign Russian work force inhabitants inhabitants 1970/1980 The change in thinking of architects; realizing the historical value of Kalamaja Formation of Kalamaja Inhabitants Convention Planning strategy for the preservation of milieu in Kalamaja 1991 Restoration of the Republic of Estonia; change of the regime and economic system; reorganization of the industry; the leaving of Russian Army inhabitants TIME SCALE protected building very valuable building valuable building less valuable building valueless building different from the milieu of Kalamaja 2006 The city government is still working with the building act of Kalamaja; the authentic milieu is continuously vulnerable

6 LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES LENDER HOUSE TALLINN HOUSE The urbanisation of estonians is said to have started with the emergence of the Lender house type. The name of the type is connected with the architect Voldemar Lender, who used to have made most of the plans for these kind of houses. In 1903 the wooden slum houses became a mass consumption article. But it was not just another slum house type, this new type was a breakthrough in living conditions, because from now on all the conveniences were inside the house, most importantly the toilet and water. The basic plan of the house is very simple: centered staircase on the symmetrical axe and four oneroom apartments on every floor. The door opened to a street level but another entrance and the stairs were placed on the back because of the fire prescriptions. The housing shortage was so acute in the late 1920s that even the building of three-storied wooden houses was permitted in Tallinn, on the condition it had a central stone staircase. As a result another new type evolved from Lender and this was called the Tallinn house. In the end of 1920ies and especially in 1930ies the building of two or three storied cheap Tallinn houses started to distribute. The plan of the Tallinn type was again overrational: on the first and second floor there were 2-roomed apartments, and on the half-basement floor there were shops and small businesses. The prominent or plane stone staircase, which extended across two floors was a typical accent for the street facade. Typical Lender house scheme and facade Typical Tallinn house facade and scheme Also, these regulations did not allow to build a wooden house with more than two stories high. But as the type could not grow in height, it growed in length along the street. That is how the number of apartments per house was increased. The growing density of living spaces could also be observed by the allocation of buildings. Often, houses were built along the perimeter of a block, with wooden houses lining the street front and another line of houses sometimes forming a second row at the back. The recreational areas also marked the difference between Lender and Tallinn houses. It was usually the latter type that had its characteristical apple orchards and courtyards full of greenery. It is said that this kind of house type occures only in Tallinn and it is not known in other towns. Some exepctions still exist, because a few single wooden tenements with a central stone staircase are found in Rakvere, Haapsalu, Tartu and Kuressaare. The most productive architect who designed this type of houses was Karl Tarvas. His houses went up in nearly all of Tallinn's districts, and this fact makes it even more interesting that the type did not remarkably spread to other towns.

7 LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES LENDER HOUSE TALLINN HOUSE The appearance of the Lender house was reduced, but this did not mean that it had no characteristical details. The reason for decorations was to give the house the city look. In general all the Lender houses looked similar, but they also had their own sub-types, reflecting the owner's preferences of taste and the architect's or engineer's handwriting. Most common decorative features were a two-leaf door with carved details and fanlight and an ironwork awning over the front door, skirtboards with a simple saw-cut ornament around the windows and a decorated tie beam at the tip of the gable. It is said that one Lender house does not have a considerable value, but when they are together they create an esthetically delightful streetscape. It is noticeable in a common line of eaves, rhythym of storeys and attic windows. The unpretentious appearance will have a different meaning when you look at the side-by-side Lender houses from the street scale. Initially, Tarvas's houses retained a strong influence of Art Nouveau, but these features retreated later. Also houses built by engineer W. Salemann in Salme Street 17 and 19 were in a late Art Nouveau vein and with a rich idiom of form (the house has three dormers, the central one of them covered with a half-dome) and a plastic, streamlined shape of the roof. The high mansard part made it possible for flats to be built also in the attic. In his own time the Tallinn house type was considered concervative as much in social as in architectural way. But it represents the peculiarity as a vernacular architectural appearance. The row of Lender houses on Salme Street Salemann houses on Salme Street Both house types were owned by one person, who rented it for the working class people. The status of your class and your possibilities determined the way how you lived. So it can be said that certain lifestyles were bonded with these house types. It meant common laundry washing in downstairs or on the courtyard, wood-sheds, the schedule of vestibule cleaning times, small first floor businesses and so on. These everyday activities together with the architecture of the buildings formed the essence of Kalamaja. It was not simply gray, featureless, comfortless slums expressing the hard life of working people in the bosom of capitalism.

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12 VARIATIONS OF LENDER AND TALLINN CHANGES HOUSE ACROSS TYPES TIME STAIRCASES EXAMPLE OF CHANGES IN INNER STRUCTURE SALME STREET 49 _ 1908 SALME STREET 49 _ 2002 BEGINNING OF 20THCENTURY THERE WAS COMMON STAIRCASE IN THE MIDDLE OF LENDER HOUSE BEGINNING OF 21THCENTURY THERE ARE PRIVATE STAIRCASES FOR EVERY SINGLE APARTMENT

13 SALME 49 CHANGES ACROSS TIME VARIATIONS OF LENDER AND TALLINN HOUSE TYPES FUNCTIONS

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15 REFERENCES Bruns, D., Tallinn: linnaehituslik kujunemine. Hallas, K. (Toim.), Eesti puitarhitektuur. Hallas-Murula, K., Tallinna 20. sajandi arhitektuur. Nerman, R., Kalamaja ajalugu. Sepp, M., Tallinna elamutüübi säästev renoveerimine. Magistritöö, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia restaureerimisteaduskond, Tallinn. Volkov, L., Tallinna tingimustes kasutatavad elamutüübid. Dissertatsioon, Tallinn. Cit. Bruns, D., Tallinn: linnaehituslik kujunemine. Välja, L., Miljööväärtusliku puitasumi väärtuste määratlemine ja kaitse. Magistritöö, Eesti Kunstiakadeemia restaureerimisteaduskond, Tallinn.

16 We would like to thank Leele Välja for introducing us the whole theme. This is how the concept got started. And for Edina and Panu we would just like to say that we might not have done our best, but we sure had many hardworking days. Anita Elo Liina Laura Kadri