Town Hall (Joensuu)

In 1874, the Finnish merchant A. Yu. Mustonen (Fin. Antti Juhana Mustonen ) built a large wooden one in the city center, after his death in 1877, sold by the heirs of the city administration for an amount of 34,000 marks. The house of Mustonen began to be used as a city hall. This building housed the magistrate, city court, conference room, financial, customs and auction halls. Later, the premises of Mustonen’s house housed a women's school, a Bank of Finland office, a post office, a city library and other organizations.

In the second half of the 1890s, the city council decided to build a new town hall building. The first projects and estimates were considered in 1894-1897: it was assumed that the new building would be built of wood, but during the next discussion, the manager of the local branch of the Bank of Finland Ernst Broms proposed to build a building of brick and stone so that a separate room could be allocated in it for banking needs, and promised to provide a loan for these purposes. The location of the new magistrate has been the subject of much debate. It was proposed that the Town Hall be built on the east side of the main square of the city so that the building could be clearly seen, but by decision of the city committee it was decided to build a town hall in Pakkahuonepuisto Park (Finnish. Pakkahuonepuisto ) closer to the coast of Pielisjoki .

The project competition was announced only in 1909, and it was won by the famous Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen . During the discussion, the project was finalized, changes were made to the drawings, one of the most noticeable was the almost doubled height of the tower. The construction of the town hall began in October 1911 and was completed three years later.

On Saturday, November 14, 1914, a folk festival was held in honor of the opening of the town hall. The celebration lasted until late in the evening. On Sunday, in honor of the opening of the town hall on November 15, the premiere of the play based on the work of Samson and Delilah based on the work of Johannes Lynankoski took place in the city theater.

In March 1966, a strong fire occurred in the city hall, as a result of which the integrity of the building was in jeopardy ^[2] . The fire began on the main stage of the theater. The fire managed to spread to the attic of the main hall and the tower. The archives of the town hall were the first to be evacuated, followed by all the theater equipment. Firefighters managed to put out the fire before the fire reached the office premises. The building has been restored; however, the ventilation system had to be redesigned. In the 1990s, the town hall building was completely renovated.

Today, the Joensuu City Theater (Fin. Joensuun kaupunginteatteri ) is located in the town hall building. On the ground floor there is a theater restaurant (Fin. Teatteri ravintola ). The offices of the city council are located in a separate building on the banks of the Pielisjoki River . Behind the town hall is a park.

• Kupiainen, Pekka. Joensuun kaupungitalo 70 vuotta .

• History of the Town Hall on the website http://vianova.jns.fi (in Finnish)
• Information from the city website (in Finnish)

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