History

The Broadway of Helsinki and Lasipalatsi

Mannerheimintie is Kamppi’s main thoroughfare, guiding traffic from the countryside and the suburbs deeper into the historical centre of Helsinki. The street was called Läntinen Heikinkatu until 1942. Several prominent buildings stood along the avenue, such as the Turku barracks and the Arkadia theatre. The elegant Henrikin esplanadi led people deeper into the city. Shortly after Finnish independence, the place was already a bottleneck for growing car traffic. The linden trees were cut down in the early 1930s, when the street was widened and modernised. In 1942, the street got its current name in honour of the 75th birthday of the Finnish military commander and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim.

After the renovations, the street was nicknamed “The Broadway of Helsinki”. With the exception of a few stone houses, most of Kamppi was at the beginning of the 20th century still a peripheral area dominated by wooden houses, which mainly attracted working-class residents. Soon after the Finnish independence, however, construction got going. The Lasipalatsi building and Helsinki’s first bus station were completed in 1936. Lasipalatsi showcased the skills of the younger generation of architects. Architecture students A. Aalto, N. Kokko, O. Laisaari, V. Revell and H. Riihimäki had presented a plan for a temporary commercial building, which was enthusiastically received by finance director Erik von Frenckell. The Central Finnish Cooperative Society (SOK) and Valio backed the project and bought Oy Lasipalatsi AB from the young architects. The further design was given to Kokko, Revell and Riihimäki.

Lasipalatsi, although meant to be a temporary structure, soon became one of Helsinki’s landmarks. Opened in the spring of 1936, Lasipalatsi shone in its surroundings like a dream of a better future – modern, bright, colourful and spacious. The prohibition act had been repealed, the economic depression was over, and new excitement about music and film spread to Finland. Lasipalatsi was characterised by its glamorous neon lights and advertisements and the building’s large, illuminating windows. “Lasipalatsi really has to be seen in the evening, when the light and the glass truly shine and make the building look like a palace,” the newspapers wrote shortly after the opening.

Post-independence building style in larger cities relied on light colours and functionalism. The spacious airiness of Lasipalatsi was emphasised by the fact that the bus station side of the building was raised on pillars. The windows were covered by large, colourful awnings. Brick and mortar retail shops sold photographic equipment, car accessories, leather and harness goods, seeds and garden equipment, stoves, and sauna stoves. The diverse selection shows that Lasipalatsi operated at the border between the countryside and the modern city. Lasipalatsi served both “Helsinki people and rural people”.

Lasipalatsi was in every way a symbol of a new era. A large restaurant opened on the second floor, with a roof terrace at one end and a winter garden on the other. Bio Rex, with its 800 seats, was the largest cinema in the Nordic countries. Domestic film production was active in the 1930s, and SF film productions premiered at the Bio Rex theatre. Lasipalatsi also made a suitable filming location for many movie scenes portraying “modern times”.

The temporary nature of Lasipalatsi soon became permanent. The building survived the war years, but its interior was taken over by office spaces. The restaurant was divided into offices and youth spaces, and the owners of the building’s small shops changed frequently. Bank headquarters, a town hall, and commercial buildings were planned to replace the dilapidated building. It wasn’t until the 1990s that Lasipalatsi returned to movie theatre and media use by the decision of Helsinki city culture division. Urban Pilot funding was used to finance the restoration, and the renovated building was opened in 1998.

In May 2014, the city council authorised the transfer of Lasipalatsi’s ownership to a company called Glaspalatset i Helsingfors, jointly owned by the City of Helsinki and Föreningen Konstsamfundet. In 2016, the renovation of Lasipalatsi began in order to restore the building to its former glory. A new Amos Anderson art museum, Amos Rex, was built under Lasipalatsi. Konstsamfundet was fully responsible for the building renovation and the construction of the museum. Amos Rex opened in August 2018, and the following year Konstsamfundet bought the entire Lasipalatsi.