Pungla and Baltsar

History

The Pungila plot was owned by Ripirander in 1756, the Baltsar plot by Erik Broberg. In 1800, the Pungila plot belonged to the pharmacist Nyberg and was mostly a garden. The pharmacist’s actual residential plot was Öysti, located in the area of the present market square. Balzar’s plot belonged to the glassmaker and bailiff Hint. Broberg. He had a field with a rich barrel field, a meadow, a semi-detached reef and barn section, two riverside fences, a food shed and a loading dock.

Fire insurance

The first fire insurance policy taken out for Rauma by the General Fire Insurance Company of Finnish Cities was for the Pungla-Baltsar property. The fire insurance was taken out in 1835 and was underwritten by the College’s assessor and mayor, Carl Grönholm Carlsson. There were five insurable buildings on the property. The descriptions on the old insurance policy were very detailed, and give an idea of the building techniques of the time.

The main building, located on the Kauppakatu, was in good condition. It had a few old rooms, which in 1820 had been fitted with new foundations: floor, roof, windows, doors and tiled stoves, after which seven more rooms had been built in 1823 and 1830, and in the latter year the whole building was raised and a new roof put on the whole building. In the year of the insurance, all the corners were fitted with plank casings, which were vertical boards, and the whole building was lined with good horizontal honeycomb boards and ash. The building had an entrance hall, a tambour, two halls, a parlour, five chambers and a kitchen with a stove and a small oven, six tiled ovens in all and chimneys going straight up. There was a cupboard for all the tiled stoves. There were two entrances to the attic and the attic was divided into five compartments. The roof of the building was double pitched. There was a double pitched roof with a double pitched roof. The water slate, against which the roof boards rested, was fitted with strong iron hooks.

The insurance policy specifically mentioned the price for the stone foundation and the base of the fireplaces, the building frame, the beams, the water roof, the plank floors in the rooms, the floor fillings and the straw floor. The roof of the rooms was of pontoon board, which was honeycomb board. The attic stairs started in the hallway’s board room. There were 20 windows with spruce frames. All windows had double-hung windows, which were putty-framed and had lining boards. The attic had two larger four-paned windows and 14 narrow double-paned windows. Four of the intermediate doors were semi-transparent double doors. They had lining boards, brass locks, hinges and knobs. Nine of the doors were semi-transparent mirrored doors and two were plain. In addition, there were two mullion doors, which were double doors, with a window above them. There was also a similar double door in the hallway. In front of both the tambour and the hallway was an external plank staircase with a handrail on one side. The walls dividing the attic had doors.

Nine rooms had paper wallpaper, baseboards and ceiling tiles. One of the tiled stoves was white and had a cupboard, shutters and two cast iron shelves. The other white oven was of the round top and square bottom design. The third was round. The five-room ovens were brown glazed tiled ovens. Two rooms had brick tiled stoves, and there was also a kitchen stove. There were five chimneys. There were four built-in cupboards in the rooms.

The outbuilding, located in the eastern part of the plot, on its northern boundary, was connected to a wing in the middle of the courtyard, on the edge of the garden land. The building was made of good quality logs in 1826 and was painted red. It had a barn with a mezzanine, a coach house, a hayloft, a stable for two horses and a barn for four cows. The roof was made of boards. There was a double door to the shed, painted with oil paint, and a hatch to the upper floor. The building had three small windows with iron bars. The stable and barn had a total of four small windows. The coach house had two large lockable doors, the stable had two doors, and the barn and barn had simple doors. Under the buildings was a vaulted cellar with two wooden doors.

The bakery building on the eastern boundary of the property was old, but recently repaired. It was a well-maintained log building with boarded corners. The building contained a baking room and a stable. The baking room had a baking oven, a stove and a tiled oven, two octagonal windows, a locked door, a hallway with a window above the door. The stable was for five horses and above it was a hayloft with a cupboard under the stairs. The stable had two doors and three small windows. The panelling on all the windows was painted with oil paint.

In the northern part of the courtyard was a small latrine building, which was attached at its corner to the outbuilding. It was built in 1830 and painted red. The building had a small window and two doors. The wooden shed was an extension of the latrine building. It was also small and painted red.

The two driveways on the plot were also insurable. They were made of planks, lined with boards and painted with oil paint. They had a lock and sturdy hinges. The fence of a large garden on the western side of the plot was also insured. The fence was made on a log foundation, painted on one side with oil paint and on the other side with red paint. The garden extended as far as Vähäkirkkokatu, as this side of the plot was undeveloped.

The deed was renewed in 1865, when the property was owned by the merchant E. W. Grönberg.

The Pungla-Baltsar plot was connected to the adjacent Apul plot. The main building had been extended towards the market square, so that it now reached the corner of Vähäkirkkokatu. The extension had not yet been boarded up, although the rest of the building had been boarded up and painted with oil paint. The new part was covered with bricks, while the rest of the building had a tiled roof. The building now contained a hall, a tambour, a wardrobe, a pantry, two halls, six chambers, a shop and a kitchen. There were 11 tiled stoves, plus a kitchen stove with a frying oven. The shop was fully furnished with shelves, cupboards and dishes. The shop staircase was on the corner of Kuninkaankatu and Vähäraastuvankatu.

The next buildings listed in the policy were the street-side buildings facing Apul’s property, the new outbuilding in the middle of the property, which had also been included in Apul’s policy, and the woodshed, which had also been included in Apul’s policy.

The angular building in the middle of the plot, with stable and barn, built in 1826, has not been altered. The garden fence was rebuilt in 1862. It is still of the same construction as before, with a log foundation and a fence made of logs.

A new insurance policy was taken out in 1887. The house was still owned by the merchant E.W. Grönholm. The buildings had been repaired and renovated. The gable building on the Apul property had been completely rebuilt from the ground up, and the outbuilding on the property was completely new. The outbuildings on the Apul side of the property were in situ.

The main building had been extended since the previous inspection. The interior of the building had been repaired and the entire building was covered with brick. The walls of the entire building were boarded and oil painted. The extension had been made on the street of the little church, so that the building had become a corner building. There were now ten living rooms and a kitchen, as well as a pantry, two dormitories with an attic, a pantry, a hall and a porch.

The new outbuilding was on the northern edge of the plot. The old gabled building had been demolished underneath. The building was made in 1886, partly of logs, partly of board. It was not planked, but painted with green composite paint (kompositionsfärg). The building had a felt roof. There were stables and a barn with a hayloft, a latrine and a manure shed. There was a coach house and three dormitories with an attic. There was also a large brick vaulted cellar under the building. By the time the garden had been built, the garden fence had been removed. The boundaries of the plot were fenced and there was a driveway from the plot to the Kauppakatu.

Modification drafts

Apparently from the early 1880s, there is an undated and unsigned alteration drawing for one of the street-side buildings on the combined lots 5, 6 and 7. A rum shop was to be opened there. It is probably the building on the corner of Kauppakatu and Isopoikkatu, the Apul building. The building had wide horizontal planking, square, almost square windows and a row of attic windows. The roof was gabled from the street corner. The picture shows that the building was originally in two parts, as there is a section in between with no windows on the residential floor and no stone plinth. The door to the rum shop was being made in the eastern room of the western part. The shop had double doors and a high staircase in front of them, rising on two sides. The gate was to the west of the building. The alteration drawing for all the buildings on the combined plots dates from the late 19th century, but the exact date of the drawing is not known. It shows the foundations of all the buildings on the plot. On the corner of Kauppakatu and Vähäraastuvankatu on plots 5 and 6, there was a residential building with a commercial building on the corner. The entrance and stairs were at the corner of the building. In addition to the large store room, there were two large rooms in the wing facing Vähäraastuvankatu. The wing on the shopping street was narrower and apparently consisted of two originally separate buildings. The part at the eastern end, consisting of the entrance hall, an antechamber, a hall and a main chamber, was even narrower than the rest of the building. The wider part consisted of a hall, a hall chamber and, on the other side of the hall, two rooms the width of the body of the building. On the other side were first two small chambers half the depth of the building frame, and then a room the depth of the entire building frame. On the courtyard side was a separate porch-like kitchen with an adjoining entrance, and next to it was the entrance to a separate apartment in the narrower part of the building. In the centre of the residential wing of the building was the main entrance and associated porch. There was also a separate entrance to the commercial building on the side of the courtyard. The outbuilding was located on the northern boundary of the plots and consisted of seven rooms.

On plot 7, there is a residential building on the corner of Kauppakatu and Isoraastuvankatu, with a commercial building on the Kuninkaankatu side, near the driveway of the plots. The wing is as it appeared on the 1889 drawing. The wing facing Isoraastuvankatu is also a semi-detached wing. It has an entrance hall and a vestibule and three rooms the width of the building. On the courtyard side there are two porches, one of which led to the shop and the kitchen of the apartment, the other to the hall of the apartment. On the northern boundary of the plot is a building with a loft, a sauna and a pantry.

An alteration drawing of the frontage of the building on the corner of the commercial street and the street at the bottom of the street dates from 1887. At the corner of the street there was a shop door and high stairs. From the eastern end of the building, there had also been a shop in another room, but the intention was to remove the door and restore the façade. The building has horizontal planking, six-paned windows framed by Custavian mouldings and a tiled roof.

An alteration drawing from 1887, which concerns the wing on plot 7 facing Kauppakatu. At the western end of the building, nearest the gate, is a commercial building that housed a distillery and rum shop. It had an entrance from the street. Behind the shop is a small chamber. The distillery and the chamber were connected, but not to the shop, which was accessible only from the street. The entrance to the chamber was from the side of the courtyard. The next building was the dormitory, which had a window on the street side but could only be accessed from the courtyard. There was therefore no internal access to the warehouse from the rest of the building. Near the corner of Isopoikkikatu there were two rooms the width of the building, followed by a hallway and a small kitchen. The building was to be altered by combining the distillery, rum shop and pantry into one large store room and the maker’s room was combined with the kitchen and hallway to create a pantry along the street. The kitchen was moved to the side of the courtyard to replace the hallway. The entrance to the hallway became the entrance to the kitchen. The street façade of the building was proposed to have a three-tiered lining. The moulding of the four-pane windows ended in a leafy lily motif. The shop door was similarly panelled. The door was a double door, and the stairs were parallel to the sidewalk, leading from two sides.

The façade drawings by August Helenius for the corner buildings on Kauppakatu and Vähäraastuvankatu date from 1888. At the corner of the square was the entrance to the shop. In the centre of the facade on Kauppakatu there was a point which was accentuated by a more ornate decoration and roof ornamentation than the rest of the facade. The Neo-Renaissance façade was built according to this plan, except for the rest of the central part. The courtyard façade was more modest, but also had a neo-renaissance feel. There was a minor rearrangement of the rooms in the building, with a kitchen and a few new porches on the courtyard side. In 1889, Helenius had drawn up plans to extend the courtyard wing of the building on Vähäraastuvankatu.

In 1889, August Helenius drew up plans for a stone building on the side of Vähäraastuvankatu. It was to house a bakehouse and two chambers. The stone building had a neo-renaissance façade and the same window design as the wooden building.

However, work on the facades was slow, as there is a drawing from 1896 that shows the opening of the shop door again on the side facing Kauppakatu. On the site where it had previously stood, but where it had been removed. The whole façade was still in its old classical style, but the roof was now made of sheet metal. The following year the door was to be opened near the west end of the building. The façade was now shown as it had been the year before, but with the windows as arched T-shaped windows and the framing similar to that shown in Helenius’ plan.

An alteration drawing for the building at the corner of Kauppakatu and Vähäkirkkokatu on plots 5 and 6 dates from 1897. In it, the window of the second room from the corner on the Kuninkaankatu side was to be moved and a street door was made next to it. The windows were shown as T-shaped, arched at the top and framed with rich neo-renaissance mouldings, as was the shop’s double door. The picture also showed the shop’s double door at the corner, which was different from the new door.

In 1899, changes were made to the buildings on Lot 7. The outbuilding had previously housed a bakehouse, sauna and pantry. Now the building was extended with a section to house the bakehouse and sauna. The wooden building was left with sheds and a latrine.

In 1901, a shop door was opened on the side of Vähäraastuvankatu, near the corner door, where the window of the liquor company’s liquor store was located. In front of the door was a 60 centimetre wide stone staircase that reached the pavement. In 1902, two tall and narrow display windows were added to the east end of the building on the Kauppakatu side. In 1907, another door was opened on the square side of the Town Hall.

The 1907 design by Arvi Forsman for the gate on the Vähäraastuvankatu side dates from 1907. The subjects repeat the details of the building’s façade.

In 1920, an extension was built in brick on the courtyard side. In 1923, the building housed a post office on the market side. A pharmacy was located on the corner and a bank at the eastern end on the side facing the shopping street. In the 1930s the post office was again used for residential purposes. Doors and windows continued to be opened and closed throughout the 1920s and 1930s. More shop windows were added. Fireplace alterations were also continually made. In 1939, a basement level was added at the corner of the building. Storage rooms, a central heating boiler and fuel storage were added.

In 1954, oil heating was installed in the house. In 1957, changes were made to the buildings facing Vähäraastuvankatu. The rooms in the stone building were combined for office purposes. Part of it was used to serve the public from behind the counter and part was separated by a glass wall. A toilet and a small staff coffee corner were added, together with a kitchenette. The ceiling of the office was lowered. Part of the rooms in the stone building were connected to the storage and office space of the bicycle shop in the wooden building. A third shop, a chemical shop, was located in the part of the building under the alteration, for which more space was created by moving the partition wall. Both the bicycle shop and the chemist’s shop had their own toilets. The entire wooden building had high windows on the façade of the Vähäkirkkokatu. Three of them were narrow and tall, but the windows of both the bike shop and the chemical store were large two-part frames. The doors of all the commercial buildings subject to the change had been converted to the 1950s style. An iron gate was added to the side facing Vähäkoulukatu.

In 1971, changes were made to the wing of the building facing Kauppakatu. The pharmacy had moved out, and its premises were thought to be a clubhouse. Part of the premises were combined with the adjacent flat, which had previously had six rooms and a kitchen, but now had eight rooms and a kitchen. At the narrower end, nearest the gate, there was a separate two-room office, which also had an entrance from the street. However, the plans did not come to fruition, and in a few months’ time both the apartment and the office were to be turned into a single shop. The partition walls were removed, except for those between some of the rooms on the courtyard side, which were to remain social rooms. The total floor space of the shop was 347 m2, and a shop entrance and one large display window were added to the street frontage.

In 1897, the first street door was added to the building. The façade was designed in a neo-renaissance style, ending in a lily motif. The design was by Onni von Zansen, but the change was only to the door and the extension of the outbuilding, not the street façade. In 1900, a second street door was opened to the building on plot 7. In 1904, the first shop windows were opened. In 1915, a corner door was opened on Lot 7, a second street door was opened and all the windows on the Kauppakatu side were converted into display windows. An extension was made on the courtyard side. In 1928, shop windows were opened on the Isopoikkatu facade.

In 1951, large shop windows were proposed, but not all of them were yet realised. In 1955, one more shop entrance was added. In 1967, the remaining shop windows were enlarged. In 1967, changes had been made to the buildings on Lot 7. The two commercial buildings along the commercial street were combined to serve the needs of the fishing and boating supply store, and the partitions between the rooms were demolished. The display windows were enlarged. A separate shop remained on the corner, which already had large shop windows. There was an apartment on Isopoikkikatu, which was connected to part of the back room of the shop on the corner. The old partitions were demolished to give the apartment a contemporary sense of openness. A sauna was also added. A boiler room and an oil tank were built in the basement. Previous central heating had been provided by a boiler in the room, but parts of the building had been heated by wood. Now the fireplaces were dismantled, including the wood stoves in the kitchen. The former latrine and shed in the outbuilding were combined to form a boat store, and the old room and kitchen flat were converted into a warm boat storage area. A cold carport was left in between. In 1974, the shop apartments were combined, and in 1987, a further living room was added to the shop.

In 1992, an old-style high gate was designed along Vähäraastuvankatu. In 1994, a summer terrace was built on the side of the square. In 1995, the basement of Pungla was taken over to serve the pizzeria in the building. Restaurant space was also added in the basement.

Current situation

Building parallel to the Kauppakatu
Residential building with elongated corners, commercial building, built in phases in the 1700s (repaired in 1820, 1823, 1830, 1864), ribbed horizontal planking from 1830, neo-renaissance lining in 1887 (John F. Lindegren), saddle roof, shop windows

Stone building on the market square
1889 rendered brick building (August Helenius), originally a commercial building, saddle roof, large arched windows

Exterior building
Boarded up outbuilding

Gate
Large driveway gate from the 1980s.