HISTORY, PRESENT  AND  FUTURE PLANS

From City Passage to City-Center

VIBRANT AND DEVELOPING CITY CENTER
 

Julius Tallberg owned three sites in the Sable Quarter of Helsinki at the beginning of the 1900s.

These sites consisted of Keskuskatu 6, Kaivokatu 6-8 (presently City-Center) and Keskuskatu 4 -Aleksanterinkatu 19 (presently Aleksi-Hermes).

The City-Käytävä passage leading from the Railway Station to Aleksanterinkatu, was completed in 1910 and has been in use since then. It has changed over the years but since the opening it has proven to be a lively and vibrant shopping arcade.

In 1958 the owners of all five blocks surrounding the City-Passage commissioned the architect Viljo Rewell to make a comprehensive plan for all the sites.

The original plan included all of the buildings starting from Kaivokatu 8 further to Kaivokatu 6, and turning into Keskuskatu. In addition, all of the buildings on the western side of the block with street numbers 8, 6, and 4, turning into Aleksanterinkatu all the way down to the Old Student House.

The architects Viljo Rewell and Heikki Castren drew-up the plans for City-Center and construction began in 1964 and was completed in 1967. The architects’ original conception for City-Center was to have all 5 sites built, but only 3 were actually realized. The present Hermes House (Keskuskatu 4) and the Tallberg House were left in their original form.

THE PREDECESSORS OF CITY-CENTER

The Tallberg Building on Kaivokatu 8 was completed in 1890. The original building was designed by Waldemar Aspelin and Helge Ranken and the later renovations were led by Eliel Saarinen.

The Skoha House on Kaivokatu 6 - Keskuskatu 8 was designed by Theodor Höjer at the end of 1890’s.

There used to be a low bazaar-like building designed by the renowned architect Selim A. Linqvist on Keskuskatu 6. Behind Keskuskatu 6 there was also a yellow house designed by the similarly renowned architect Eliel Saarinen. Part of this building was later renamed Saarinen House , which still exists today, and forms a part of City-Center.

THE HOUSES ANNEXED TO CITY-CENTER  Click here and find out  more

CITY-CENTER IN THE FUTURE Click here and find out  more