Iso-Tokila

History

There were two plots called Tokila on the 1756 map. One was owned by Juhani and the other by Henrik Tocklin. In 1800, plot 254 was owned by Liisa Reilander, a bourgeois dowager. She had a small, generous plot of arable land. Part of the property was mortgaged from the Mayor Åberg’s bill lot. The other owner of the plot was the former bourgeois Niilo Åberg. He was poor.

Fire insurances

In 1847, fire insurance was taken out by the merchant-owner N. Canth. There are three buildings on the corner of Kauppakatu and Isokirkkokatu: a residential building along Kuninkaankatu, a small building along Isokirkkokatu and an outbuilding at the rear of the plot.

The main building was an old log building in good condition, boarded on three sides. The building consisted of a lobby, a hall, two chambers and a kitchen. The roof was made of boards. There was also a porch attached to the building. There were six windows, each with a four-sash window. There were five attic windows. The outer door was a double board door. The interior doors were half-transomed mirrored doors and there were four of them, plus one panelled door and two doors to the attic porch. Two rooms had paper wallpaper and oil-painted fascia boards and ceiling tiles. The fireplaces included a square brown glazed fireplace, a square green glazed fireplace and a round brick oven, as well as a kitchen stove.

A small building on Isokirkkokatu was a baker’s building with a chamber, a cold chamber and a bakehouse. The building was old, in poor condition and was unplanked but painted red with red clay paint. The building also had a porch. There were three square windows and one smaller one of the same type. The doors had two semi-transparent mirrored doors and one simple board door. Fireplaces included a baking oven and a tiled stove with a brownstone.

The outbuilding at the rear of the plot was built in 1844 of new logs. It had a barn, stables and a chalk house. The building had three simple board doors. The roof was boarded. A drive gate, a walkway and a board fence were also included.

In 1862, a new insurance policy was issued. It was underwritten by a chartered surveyor, C. G. Kordelin. Plots 250 and 254 were combined and the buildings on the neighbouring plots were treated together. The buildings on the western side, plot 250, were the same as when the previous policy was taken out. On the eastern side, plot 254, the main building was on the corner of Kuninkaankatu and Koulukatu and the outbuilding on the northern boundary of the plot.

The main building on plot 254 was old on the Kuninkaankatu side, but had been extended in 1859 on the Isokirkkokatu side. The old building was planked and oil-painted, but the new part was unplanked and unpainted. The house had a tiled roof. The rooms consisted of a hall, three chambers, a kitchen, a shop and a boarded porch. There were five tiled stoves and a kitchen stove. There was a vaulted cellar under the building. The shop had a fixed interior consisting of shelves, counters, drawer frames and cupboards. The shop had a wooden staircase in the corner of the building.

The outbuilding on plot 254 was constructed in 1844. It was still unplanked and unpainted. The building contained a stable with a hayloft, barn and chalk.

There had been no significant changes to the buildings on plot 250.

There are two gates from the plot: one between the buildings on Kuninkaankatu and the other on Isokirkkokatu. The front of the barn is fenced as a separate cattle yard.

In 1893 the property was owned by the merchant J. L. Enlund. The building at the corner of Isokirkkokatu and Kuninkaankatu had been completely renovated, raised, redecorated and covered with felt in the same year. The building was not yet boarded up. There were now five living rooms, two hallways, two boarded rooms and a kitchen stove.

Modification drafts

The oldest modification drawing of the building dates back to 1881. The residential building on the corner of Kuninkaankatu and Isokirkkokatu consisted of two hallways, a kitchen and four living rooms. In addition, there had been a shop on the corner, which at the time had been created by demolishing the partition wall between the two rooms and opening a door into the corner. The shop had now ceased trading and it was decided to rebuild the partition wall in its former position. It was decided to remove the decaying shop stairs and replace them with a five-panel glass-walled bay window in the corner. On the Kuninkaankatu side of the building there were three six-paned windows with classical panelling and above them two-paned windows in the attic.

In 1896, changes were again made. The plan shows that, in addition to the residential building, there was an outbuilding on the northern boundary of the plot. The intention was to raise the residential building with a boarded attic section and cover it with an asphalt roof. The facades of the building are shown as being of horizontal masonry. A neo-renaissance lining of purple-finished panelling has been drawn around the six-paned windows. The corner pilasters have matching roof consoles. The corner of the building has a projecting polygonal bay window.

In 1906, the architect Onni von Zansen had drawn up plans for a major alteration of the corner building. The owner of the house at the time was the merchant A. B. Renfors. It was proposed to extend the building on the courtyard side and to extend it along Isokirkkokatu. At the same time, part of the outbuilding along the street was to be demolished. The premises of the corner building were rearranged to form a commercial building, including a shop on the corner and an adjoining office and storage room. A shopkeeper’s apartment was added along Kuninkaankatu, comprising a hall, a dining room, a kitchen and a bedroom. The wing on Isokirkkokatu had an additional room and kitchen. The facades of the building were given a new Art Nouveau lining. Above the shop door on the corner, a small tower was added, decorated with the shopkeeper’s initials ABR. An Art Nouveau gate was also part of the design. The roof was converted into a folding roof. A laundry room was added to the basement.

In 1912, the former narrow outer building was replaced by a new, wider one, with a street end in the Art Nouveau style of the main building. The design was by Arvi Leikari.

In 1929 the property was used by a bank. The architect Heikki Tiitola from Tampere had designed a modification that combined all the rooms in the building into a bank building. By demolishing the walls, a large unified bank office was created. In addition, there were two separate manager’s rooms, a recreation room and a kitchen. The basement laundry room became the bank’s vault and boiler room. More display windows were made and their shape was changed. Details on the facade were trimmed and more lantern windows were added to the attic floor. In the same year, it was proposed to add a single heated room to the attic floor of the building.

In 1951, changes were planned for the commercial building. However, it took until 1954 before it was time to implement them. The entire ground floor of the building was now a shop. The downstairs also included a couple of offices. From the shop, a staircase led to the second floor. The attic floor was used for storage and a drawing room for the electrical shop. Light to the attic floor was provided by chandeliers. The display windows were enlarged. Two toilets are also shown on the drawings. In 1992, the upstairs was converted into an apartment. A sauna and garage were added to the outbuilding.

Current situation

Commercial building
Long-cornered residential building, now a commercial building, east wing built c. 1859, south wing before that, ribbed horizontal planking, saddle and hipped roof, display windows. Jugendstil and tower from 1906 (Onni von Zansen). Windows enlarged in 1954.

Outdoor building
Short-cornered outbuilding dating from 1844, with horizontal boards.