Kainu

History

In 1800 the house belonged to the bourgeois Hinr. Marelin. He also had a field, a food shed, two reefs, including a barn, three beach sheds and two loading docks. In addition, he had ship shares.

Fire insurance

The house was insured against fire in 1862. The owner at that time was S. Sandberg, a labourer. There were many buildings on the large plot. The house on the corner of Eteläpitkäkatu and Isopoikkikatu was recently built and had not yet been boarded up or painted. The windows were six-paned and there were six of them. The roof was, as usual, boarded. The building had a hall, four chambers, a kitchen and two hallways. The hall had a square tiled stove and the chambers had circular brown-tiled tiled stoves.

The building facing Eteläpitkäkatu was largely of recent construction.
There were nine hexagonal windows. There were two halls, three chambers, a kitchen and a hallway. One of the ovens was angular, with a brown tiled ceiling, and the other was similar and circular. The three chambers had brick ovens.

The third building, with living quarters, was located at the end facing Eteläpitkäkatu, at right angles to the residential building on the same street. It was recently built, unplanked and unpainted. It had two six-sash windows. The building had a hall, a dormitory and a galley. There were rooms in a fourth building, which also had rooms for other uses. The old grey log building, in good condition, had a baker’s and a stable. Two of the windows in this building were also six-paned. The building was situated in the centre of the plot, facing north-south. At right angles to it, on the southern boundary of the plot, was a new, unplanked and unpainted outbuilding comprising a barn, a stable and a shed. An old, grey barn building was located in the centre of the plot. A sturdy gate led to the site from Eteläpitkäkatu. There was a garden in the eastern part of the plot but, as noted in the fire insurance policy, there were no trees.

Comparing the locations of the buildings with the present ones, it can be seen that the old outbuilding and stable building, as well as the barn, had been removed. The row of outbuildings along the southern boundary of the site has been extended towards the garden.

In 1907, the sum insured was increased due to the ongoing renovation and extension works.

Modification drafts

The oldest alteration drawing for the buildings on the site dates from 1893 and was drawn by John F. Lindegren. The alteration concerns a building in the courtyard, in the centre of the plot, which contained both living and outbuilding accommodation. The intention was to create a shed with a pent roof on the side of the building. The drawing shows that the building was boarded with vertical boarding and the windows were six-paned. There were a total of seven buildings on the site. Another alteration drawing from the same year was for a shed with a pent roof on the east side of the dwelling. Another low-pitched shed was to be built at the end of a neighbour’s outbuilding.

In 1899, Arvi Forsman drew an alteration drawing for a residential building on the plot facing Isomalminkatu. The modification only concerned the plastering of the façade and the replacement of the windows. The building had four-pane windows and panelling, which ended in a dovetail at the top. The window moulding was simple and neo-renaissance in style. The panelling has remained the same to this day.

In 1905, Arvi Forsman drew a modification drawing for the second end of the Isomalminkatu residential building. The building then had a slanted window in the inner corner, which brought light into the kitchen with a baking oven. The fireplaces were also altered. At the same time, a row of outbuildings on the southern boundary of the plot was extended with a cattle shed and latrine, and a boarded wing section was added to the eastern part of the plot. The outbuilding at the centre of the courtyard, at the end of which was a dwelling and outbuilding built more than ten years earlier, was demolished, as were the separate buildings in the courtyard, one of which was certainly the barn mentioned in the fire insurance and the other possibly a latrine.

An alteration drawing by Arvi Forsman, dated 1906, concerns the residential building facing Eteläpitkäkatu and the residential building in the middle of the courtyard. Both buildings were to be raised. The building on the street side was to be extended on the courtyard side with three new kitchens and associated entrances. The courtyard building had been a semi-detached baker’s shop with a baking room and a hall, with a hallway and pantry between them. Now the baking oven was made into a combined hall and antechamber and the former baking room was divided into a chamber and a room with cooking facilities in a heating oven and a separate entrance. The porch was extended to provide a separate entrance to three rooms. The building on Etelpitkäkatu was given a two-part planking with a vertical planked lower part. The T-shaped windows were lined with Neo-Renaissance panelling.

The following year, there is a plan by Forsman, again for the building facing Eteläpitkäkatu and the residential building in the middle of the plot. The residential building along Eteläpitkäkatu received further extensions to the side of the courtyard, which would add three new kitchens and plank windows at three entrances. The building would now have three apartments, each with two rooms and a kitchen. The building in the middle of the courtyard would have a new porch, which provided access to the three rooms of the building: a kitchen with a baking oven and two chambers. The fourth room, with a stove with a hotplate, was obtained by dividing one room in two with a partition wall.

In 1936, in a building in the middle of the courtyard, a noble cooking stove was connected to the heating oven in one of the chambers. In 1937, fireplace modifications were made to the building facing Isopoikkikatu, so that two new kitchens were added to the building. In the same year, a garage was added to the outbuilding wing.

In 1965, the baking oven in the building in the middle of the courtyard was demolished. The hotplate oven was replaced by an oil fireplace, and an electric stove was added for cooking. The oil stove provided heating for both rooms, so the second tiled stove was also demolished. The apartment had its own small porch at the old entrance. At the same time, the access from the other porch was closed off. The building now had two rooms and a kitchen. The building was given the current planking and new low-pane windows to replace the old T-pane ones.

In 1973, changes were again made. Small apartments were combined in the building on the side of Eteläpitkäkatu, leaving two apartments in the building. The premises of the building in the middle of the plot were combined into one apartment. At the same time, small toilets were installed in the apartments. The building along the street still had heating stoves, but the wooden stoves were abandoned. A carport and a sauna were added to the outbuilding. Similar changes were also made to the building on Isopoikkikatu at the same time, although the building belonged to a different owner. Two apartments were left in this building, one of which was fitted with a shower and a small toilet. A garage and sauna were added to the eastern part of the outbuilding, which belonged to the owner of the building on the Isopoikkikatu side. In 1988, the building at the corner of Eteläpitkäkatu and Isopoikkikatu was thoroughly renovated, with the addition of washrooms in both apartments. An old-style gate was erected along Eteläpitkäkatu. In the same year, the building in the middle of the courtyard was renovated and the porch was fitted with washrooms. In 1989, a washroom was built in the second apartment of the building facing Eteläpitkäkatu. In 1990, a larger garage was added to the outbuilding, which required an extension to the courtyard side of the building. The plans for the buildings of the various owners were drawn up by Markus Bernoulli.

In 1999, the building at the corner of Eteläpitkäkatu and Isopoikkikatu was again being transformed. Among other things, the distribution between the apartments was changed. This had already changed three times in just over ten years, and the attic was converted into a warm storage area.

Current situation

Residential building along Isopoikkikatu
Elongated residential building from the mid-19th century, panelling and window frames (Forsman 1899), saddle roof

Residential building parallel to Eteläpitkäkatu
A mid-19th-century residential building with a long corner, later vertical planking, saddle roof. Features Neo-Renaissance siding (Forsman 1906).

Residential building in the courtyard
Residential building with a long corner, probably from the 1700s, with vertical planking dating from 1965, saddle roof

Outdoor building
Vertical boarded exterior building

Gates
Made in the old style.