Sergey Nikolaevich Nikolaev (Jr.)

Sergei Nikolaevich Nikolaev (Jr.) (Fin. Sergei Nikolajevitš Nikolajeff junior; May 6, 1878 Helsinki - June 30, 1920 Aix-les-Bains , France ) was a Finnish merchant with Russian roots who founded the first major auto company in Finland. He also imported the first aircraft to Finland . Nikolaev built in the center of Helsinki an "automobile palace" later known as the "Supplier's House".

The merchant family of Nikolayev immigrated to Finland in the 20s of the XIX century. Nikolayev’s father, Nikolay Nikolaev, together with his wife owned the Gambrini restaurant in Helsinki. In his youth, Sergei was fond of photography and cycling. After school, he began working as a salesman in the GF Trading House. Stockmann. Interested in cars, airplanes and motor boats, Nikolaev, after the death of his father in 1904, went on a tour of Europe, in order to familiarize himself with the automobile industry and trade in cars. [2] Before that, he worked as a trainee-trainee in Hamburg. Upon returning to Finland, Nikolaev in 1905 founded his shop in Fabianinkatu, on the top floor of the Gambrini restaurant, which belonged to his mother. Initially, the store specialized in the sale of stationery, but soon expanded to an auto shop. Despite the fact that Nikolaev was not the first seller of cars, he soon became the first to manage to make a large-scale and successful business out of car sales. According to calculations, in the period from 1906 to 1913. Nikolaev imported about 700 cars to Finland, which exceeded half of all imported cars before the First World War . He imported, including such brands of cars as Oldsmobil , Adler , Opel , Benz, Studebaker , Minerva and Mercedes. In the store of Nikolaev, in addition to selling cars, they were also serviced, taught to drive, and sold fuel and tires. Nikolaev also engaged in the sale of motor boats, writing and calculating machines. In 1911 he founded a taxi company, which later turned out to be unprofitable. In 1910, he imported Demoiselle from France - a plane, which he sold in early 1911 to Tampere's sculptor Adolf Aarno . It was the first aircraft in Finland.

After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the activity of the car dealership decreased. Import stopped, there was a lack of fuel. Avtodvorets Nikolaev soon retrained in the factory for the manufacture of shells. In connection with the termination of the importation of cars, spare parts and fuel, Nikolaev tried to buy cars from his customers back and resell them to Russia. In 1916, a joint-stock company was made from the store, which was focused on the manufacture of motor and other machines. This society had its own engineering and foundry. In 1918, Nikolaev sold his shares. He first immigrated to Denmark, then to France, where he died in 1920. The last years of his life he spent in Nice , in a villa purchased from the engineer Collini.

After the death of Nikolayev, the villa, just like its other significant property, was destroyed at the request of his family. The former avtodvorets became the central cooperative of the main office of the "Supplier House". In turn, the autoshop of Nikolaev continued its work in the house on Salomoninkat until 1978 ^[2] . At the same time, the company sold off almost all of its motor boats and ended its operations.

Sergey Nikolaev was buried in the Orthodox cemetery in Helsinki.