Craft Quarter (Joensuu)

The handicraft quarter was built over 100 years ago. The quarter consists of four buildings: the Mustonen House, the Parviainen House, an old red brick building and a barn.

• Mustonen House, overlooking the intersection of Rantakatu and Koskikatu streets, was built in 1870. In the exterior of the building, attention is drawn to details such as a balcony with an angel and carved wooden decorations on the facade, as well as a rare honeycomb window . The merchant’s family lived on the Rantakatu side of the building, and a servant was located in the wing overlooking Koskikatu. The building in the Swiss style was designed by the chief city architect Leander Backman ( Leander Backman ). After the death of the Commerce Advisor in 1877, the city council was located in the building until the move to a new stone building in 1914. In 1914–1955, there was a post and telegraph station in the house, after which in 1960 the building was transferred to the newly created provincial government, for which the original layout of the rooms and the structure of the building were completely redesigned: a long corridor was built inside the building, on both sides of which rooms were located, and the area of ​​the rooms and the height of the ceilings was reduced. At different times, the building also housed the city treasury, a school for girls, a customs office and a representative office of the Ministry of Energy. In the mid-1980s, by decision of the city council, reconstruction of Mustonen's house began in order to restore its original appearance and turn it into a tourism and culture bureau. During the reconstruction, balconies were restored. In 1981-1997, there was a room for a song festival. In 2006, the Mustonen House became the seat of the Center for Crafts and Small Business ( Taito– ja pienten käsityöyrittäjien keskus ).

• In 1886, the merchant Petter Parviainen built a residential building at the intersection of Torikatu and Suvantokatu Streets, from where he was transferred to the Craft Quarter in the 1970s. When Parviainen's house was decided to be relocated from its original location due to new development, it was quickly dismantled, and only in 1979 the building was reassembled. Thanks to the relocation, the cellar, internal walls and roof were rebuilt. The building consists of three zones: a basement decorated with star ornaments, where the cellar, the main floor and the attic with a pediment are located. In Parviainen’s house, as in Mustonen’s house, offices and public services worked.

• The red brick house (Fin. Tiilitalo ), which was built in 1931, is located in the courtyard. The building was used as a garage and storage room, however, at the turn of the 1950s-1960s, there was a studio for cabinetmakers in a workshop in Eastern Finland. In 2007, a brick building under threat of demolition was included in the artisan quarter and repaired: the roof was closed, the lower windows were replaced with large windows, and the small upper ones were restored according to old models. The yard, previously sandy, was paved with granite.

• The Olsson barn in the courtyard, built in 1913 and painted with red Falun paint , was transported to Koskikatu street from Malmikatu when intensive urban development began there. The size of the barn was reduced to 6 m in length, and the second floor was partially removed.

Wooden buildings that form and adjoin the craft quarter are included in the list of protected architectural and historical monuments of urban significance (category 2) ^[1] .

In May 2006, the quarter was inaugurated in a new quality cultural center with a carefully styled historical atmosphere of 19th-century provincial Finland. Small enterprises of traditional crafts and crafts work here, united in the entrepreneurial cooperative Taito Pohjois-Karjala ry . There are shops, art galleries and cafes at the workshops. In the quarter, city festivities are held, Christmas markets, fairs and exhibitions are organized. In the house of Parviainen in March 2013, the Family House ( Fin. Perheentalo ) was opened, in which there are children's clubs and peer clubs.

In Joensuu, zones of continuous historical development of the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries, such as, for example, in Rauma , have not been preserved, therefore, not only buildings such stylistically and historically corresponding to it as “Surakan talo” ( Finnish. Surakan talo ), but and examples of modern business architecture (Carlson Shopping Center, Greenstar Hotel), which, however, do not destroy the species perspective.

• The official website of the Craft Quarter in Finnish, English, Russian and German