Rännär

History

The house was owned in 1800 by the bourgeois Adolph Mandelin. He also owned a field, a meadow, a reef, a barn, two beach huts and an old loading dock. He also had ship shares and cash.

Fire insurance

Fire insurance for the plot was taken out in 1847. The house was then owned by the merchant Samuel Johan Wesander. At that time, the plot contained a gabled building at the corner of the Kauppatori Square and Vähäraastuvankatu, an outbuilding on Vanhankirkonkatu and a small building in the courtyard. The main building had been renovated in the same year and was therefore in good condition. The side facing the Kauppatori was boarded up and painted red. The building had a pitched roof. There was also a porch on the courtyard side. Fifteen of the windows were identical. There were nine windows in the attic. There were eighteen rooms: entrance hall, hall, four chambers, closet, pantry, shop, kitchen, pantry, pantry, sleeping room, coach house, barn, stable, privy and manure room. The living quarters had a tin roof. Five of the rooms had papered ceilings and the others were painted. Seven rooms had paper wallpaper, painted with watercolour. The partition doors were semi-transparent. The outer door of the shop was a double board door. The inner door to the shop was a half-framed door with a window above it. The shop was furnished with a shelving unit containing sixty drawers of various sizes. The two counters in the shop also had drawers. There were also two shelving units and a salt cellar with a shelf above it, all painted in oil. Stoves in the house included one flat yellow tiled stove, four similar round stoves, two brown tiled stoves, and a kitchen stove with a cast iron stove and frying oven. The main building also had a separate building at the town hall end, comprising a gateway and a single goods fence. The gate was a sturdy double plank gate.

In 1852, there was also a desire to insure the other buildings on the site. A new log building had been built on Vanhankirkonkatu in 1849. It was unplanked, but painted with red paint. There were six square windows and four attic windows. There were four rooms: an entrance hall, a baker’s room, a pantry and a chamber. The building had an oven in the baking room and a stove with oven in the bunk room, and a brown tiled stove in one of the chambers. In addition, there was a wood stove built against the wall of the baker’s building. It is a modest boarded, doorless shelter and built in 1849. In addition, there is another wood stove on the western boundary of the property, which was also attached to the baker’s building.

The next insurance was taken out by merchant E. Karsten in 1862. He wanted to increase the insurance values because of the repairs that had been carried out. The main building’s façade on the market side was now planked and painted with oil paint. The east façade was unplanked and painted with red paint. The building had a tiled roof, which had been done the previous summer. In addition, the floors and ceilings had been replaced, both in the living rooms and in the other rooms. The gatehouse still had a tiled roof. The baker’s and bread oven building was unchanged, but the description shows that the house also had a sauna oven combined with a baking oven. The red-painted timber shed on the western boundary of the property remained, but the open timber shelter had disappeared.

The next reinsurance took place in 1889. The house was then owned by the merchant Ivan Sofronoff. Again, alterations and additions had been made. The main building now had a felt roof. On the market side there were four living rooms, two closets and a shop. To the side of the building on the courtyard side was an 1886 addition with a hall, two living rooms and a kitchen. The section of the building was flat-roofed with felt roofing, boarded and oil-painted. The residential part of the building on the side facing the street was reported as being built in 1847, boarded up, painted with oil paint and with a tiled roof. The building had two rooms used as a store, two living rooms and a porch with windows. The part of the building with outbuildings was also listed as built in 1847. This was also boarded, oiled and covered with brick. There were three attic dormitories, a stable and a barn with a hayloft and latrine. The baker’s and blacksmith’s building was reported as being built in 1849. This too was now boarded, oiled and tiled. The threshing room had been converted into a pantry and fitted with a tiled oven. The combined baking, washing and sauna room was unchanged. In addition to the baking and sauna oven, the oven also had two iron masonry stoves. A new building on the site was a log dormitory built in 1888. It was unplanked and painted with water-based paint. The roof was iron cable. The building had three attic dormitories, a woodshed and a vaulted cellar. The dormitory, built on the site of the old woodshed, was located on the western side of the property. The building along the Market Square, comprising a gateway and a board dormitory, was unchanged. It had a tiled roof and walls painted in red paint. It was built in 1847.

In 1898, merchant Sofronoff took out another insurance policy. The main building had again been altered. The building had a plinth made of hewn stone, the rooms had been raised, the windows had been made larger, the doors had been replaced, and the rooms had been fitted with handsome new stoves. The building had been replanked and oiled. The roof was covered with felt. There were now four living rooms, a shop and four wardrobes. The courtyard-facing side porch had been extended in 1889 so that it was now a full-length extension with a pent roof. The rooms formed additional rooms in the dwelling of the old part of the building. The new section had four living rooms, including a kitchen, two closets and a new boarded entrance porch. There were also new windows, doors and handsome fireplaces, and the kitchen stove had as many as two stoves and a copper water tank. Under the kitchen was a vaulted stone cellar with cemented floor and walls. There was also a cement-framed well with a metal pipe under the building.

Changes had also been made to the buildings along Vähäraastuvankatu. The residential part had been completely renovated, boarded up and oil-painted. The rooms consisted of a large hall and one chamber, both of which were furnished as storage rooms. The cattle shed had apparently not been altered much.

The building on the Vanhankirkonkatu side had received a new foundation in 1897, when the planking and decoration of the building had also been changed. The building was oil-painted and covered with asphalt shingles. The building still contained a bake house with a masonry cauldron. There were also six living rooms, two hallways, a dormitory and a cloakroom. The storage building is now said to have two vaulted cellars, otherwise the premises are unchanged. The insurance now also mentions a driveway to Vanhankirkonkatu.

In January 1900, there was a fire accident in the store’s warehouse, where a heated ash pan set fire to papers and other debris lying on the floor. The fire did not have time to take hold, but the warehouse room, where the fireplaces, the wall-mounted furniture and the intermediate ceiling were destroyed, suffered damage. In addition, the shop, an adjoining office and a hall were damaged, where the ceiling and wall papers had to be replaced.

Modification drafts

There is an alteration drawing of the Rännäri plot from 1986, which shows the buildings on the plot. At the corner of Kauppakatu and Vähäraastuvankatu there was a residential building, which continued as an outbuilding on the Vähäraastuvankatu side. At the opposite corner of the plot, there were two buildings on the courtyard side: a residential building on Vanhankirkonkatu and an outbuilding on the western boundary of the plot. In addition, there was a small detached building on the Kauppatori side of the street, at the gateway. Another gate was located along Vanhankirkonkatu. Before the conversion, the residential building had had a hallway in the middle, a room on the street opposite it and large rooms on either side. The west end had two chambers, one in the courtyard and the other on the street side. There were two roof entrances. The wing facing the Vanhankirkonkatu had smaller rooms and hallways, the order of which was to be changed when an extension was made to the corner of the building, adding two rooms and a kitchen and two hallways. The extension was lined with vertical boarding on the lower part and horizontal boarding on the upper part. The windows are cross-pane and the window and door framing is finished in a lilac motif. A second two-storey storage room is to be built in the outbuilding. The second floor of both storage rooms will be accessed by a staircase to the exterior of the building. A handsome neo-renaissance gateway is planned along the Market Square.

In early 1996, a drawing was drawn up to open a second door to the commercial building facing the square. The positions of the doors on the drawing are exactly the same as on the drawing from ten years ago. The street façade of the building is different. The wall is divided by mouldings into four zones. The lowest is horizontal boarded, the section between the windows is vertical boarded and the top two sections are horizontal boarded. The planking also wraps around the pilasters in the same way. The windows are T-shaped and the top pane is arched at the top. The moulding of the windows is classical. The unsigned drawing is probably by John Fredr. Lindegren. In the late summer of the same year, August Helenius of Turku produced an alteration drawing that would give the Lehtinen & Sofronoff commercial building a representative neo-renaissance look. Large, rather wide shop windows are shown across the entire façade, as well as two entrances to the commercial premises. The façade is rendered in horizontal board and the decorative details are in the neo-renaissance style. The gate is also in the same style. The façade on the side facing Vähäraastuvankatu is simpler. The windows are double-paned and less ornate than the main façade. Changes to the interior were also proposed, with rooms being combined to create larger commercial spaces. Perhaps the plans were too grandiose, as by October 1897 Helenius had drawn up a new plan. There is only one entrance to the shop and the shop windows have been completely removed. The windows are straight T-shaped. Their framing is rich, but simpler than in the previous plan. There is also a decorated field below the windows. A 1906 alteration plan by Onni von Zansen proposes to open three narrow and tall display windows in place of the old living room windows. The four windows facing the Town Hall remained T-shaped. It is also intended to combine two rooms and various hall and closet spaces into a single retail space. The roof will have to be suspended from the attic due to the demolition of the partition wall. The store room will be connected to the ironmongery and packing room on the yard side. On the roof side there are two office rooms and on the yard side another warehouse. The 1911 alteration plan involved the opening of a second entrance and new display windows on the roof side. Now all the windows on the roof side became tall and narrow display windows. Inside, the partition walls of the small office rooms were removed and replaced by shop space. The floor plan shows that the shop sold both general merchandise and hardware. There was also a fabric department.

The residential building on Vanhankirkonkatu is an alteration drawing by August Helenius from 1897. The building had housed a bakery, a sauna and living rooms. Now the premises were rearranged. The building was given T-shaped windows with modest neo-renaissance panelling around them. The building had horizontal ironwork. In 1916, the baking oven and masonry fireplace were abandoned and a pair of kitchens were added. An extension and garage were added to the outbuilding in 1925.

In 1929 the property was owned by A. Alanko Oy. In May, a proposal was made to convert the building to a mansard roof. All the old additions on the courtyard side, with their old hipped roofs, were now under the same brick mansard roof, and the building became effectively two storeys, although the second storey was not yet occupied. The facades were rendered with vertical weatherboarding. The window framing was very simple. The windows in the attic and on the ground floor, other than the display windows, were small square. The doors were presented as being very much in keeping with twentieth century classicism. The plans were drawn up by Kaino Kari. Additional plans were drawn up in June. The shop’s premises would be reorganised. It was divided into three shops, each with its own entrance, but connected to each other: a mixed goods shop, a drapery shop and a hardware shop with a separate ironmongery section. The wing on the side facing the street was a warehouse and packing rooms. The attic floor was used for offices and warehouses. There were also toilet facilities. A boiler room was installed in the basement and central heating was installed throughout the building. A gate was also designed to match the style of the property. In 1952, the roof of the wing on Vähäraastuvankatu was raised and the attic rooms were connected to the commercial premises as a sample store. At the same time, this part of the building was also covered with brick instead of the former cladding.

In 1965, the business premises of Riisla Oy were converted. The remaining partitions were removed to create a single space divided into a recreational and ironmongery section and a section for gift, glass, porcelain and household goods. The whole shop was served by a single cashier. Part of the office space on the attic floor was combined into a showroom. The narrow and tall windows were made lower and wider and the location of the second door was moved.

The 1966 alteration drawing shows the conversion of part of the residential building on Vanhankirkonkatu into a warehouse. At the same time, the tiled stoves in the dwelling were dismantled and replaced by an oil fireplace. A small toilet was also added.

Current situation

Building on the market side
Short-cornered commercial building dating from 1847. Re-erected in 1929 (Kaino Kari), the building was given its current classical appearance, with seam-lined lining, shop windows, mansard roof.

Exterior building along Vähäraastuvankatu
Reconstructed in 1847, long-cornered exterior building with vertical tile cladding

Building on the side of Vanhankirkonkatu
Long-cornered residential building from 1849, ribbed horizontal planking, neo-renaissance window frames, saddle roof

Exterior
External building of logs

Exterior building
Cement brick outbuilding with rendered exterior.