Open today 11–18
Collection’s diary

Eugen Habermann, 1920–1921. EAM Fk 3105, Fk 15852

Workers´ housing in Kohtla-Järve

The Siidisuka neighborhood located in Kohtla-Järve has a garden city concept. The housing scheme was commissioned by the Estonian Oil-Shale Factory for its employees and built between 1920–21 according to the design of Eugen Habermann. This was one of the first urban concept in the life of the newly formed city. The name Siidisuka – which means Silk Stocking – shows the status of the habitats whom most were the leaders, engineers, and officers of the oil company and could afford buying silk instead of cotton fabrics to their family. The semidetached dwellings have unified concept with 4-5 different type of plans. The appearance of the houses are formed by the traditionalist trend and vernacular tendencies. In this case the architect blended the motifs of the modern architecture with characteristics of the local vernacular aspects such as the use of the rusticated limestone. The most characteristic elements are the precipitous sloping roofs and screwed pilasters. The buildings are linked with a perpendicular secondary house that divides inner and an external yard. The decorations on the façades, for example the typical zig-zag motifs show the influences of the architecture of the german expressionism. The photos were acquired by the museum in 1996 and new photos made by Martin Siplane in 2009 for the museum exhibition. Text: Anna Zsoldos

 

Ernst Kesa, 1970. EAM 12.1.1

Nauru House in Melbourne

The design for the 52-storey skyscraper was commissioned by the government of the small island country of Nauru in the Pacific Ocean after rapid increase in wealth thanks to the phosphate industry. The building became an international investment project which was also due to house the residency of the president of Nauru. The skyscraper on the presentable Collins Street in Melbourne was the highest building in the city in 1977 and was designed by the largest architecture office in Australia – Perrott Lyon Timlock & Kesa. The managing architect of the Nauru project was Ernst Kesa, who emigrated from Estonia during the war and also drew up a perspective view of the building. Ernst Kesa donated this drawing on the tracing paper made with ink to the museum in 1992. Text: Sandra Mälk 

Leila Pärtelpoeg, 1973–1978. EAM 4.3.7

Interior design of the Tallinn Town Hall

During the renovation of the oldest Gothic town hall which has been preserved in Northern Europe (completed in the beginning of the 15th century), a competition was held to find a fitting interior design for the historic surroundings. Some of the decision-makers believed the winning solution by interior architect Leila Pärtelpoeg with its heavy black furniture, high gloss doors and copper lamp globes to be much too competitive with the historical legacy. Others, however, saw the tension between new and old as an expected means to invigorate the room. The drawings depict medieval festivities in the trading hall and the guild-hall with historical chandeliers and side reliefs. Leila Pärtelpoeg donated nearly 50 drawings of the furniture and interior design to the museum in 2000. Text: Sandra Mälk

Harald Krannhals, 1926. EAM 1.2.43

Album of Villa Ammende

The newest addition to the museum collection is related to the well-known Art Nouveau villa in Estonia. The album of Villa Ammende in Pärnu (architect Frithiof Mieritz, 1904) is exceptional not only for its photos of large variety of exteriors and interiors but as well as for some of the pictures taken from unusual places such as the kitchen with its staff, backyard and greenhouse depicting fruity grapes. The album shows the life and living manners of the family of a prosperous merchant displaying splendid furniture, textiles and items.

The album, lately owned by Irina Mirkov – the grandchild of Hermann Leopold Ammende – was put together for selling the house. Mr Ammende, an established merchant from Pärnu, commissioned the building from an architecture office in St Petersburg called Mieritz & Gerassimov for the wedding party of his daughter Ellen. After the festivities, the family used the luxurious house as a summer cottage until moving back to Germany in 1927.The pictures taken in 1926 are made by Harald Krannhals, the photographer from Pärnu. Addition to his work are pictures taken by Mihkel Õnnis some years later. Altogether 21 photos show some typical deteriorations happen in time. The dim areas of the photos have spots of silver coating. The album was given to the museum by Aivar Roosaar, who was involved in restoration of the villa (1995–1999). The gift shall be a befitting addition to the original project previously given to the museum (EAM 1.2.11). Text: Sandra Mälk

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Mart Port, 1962. EAM 52.2.11

Competition entry for the observation and water tower in Mustamäe

The quality of the entry submitted for the competition for the observation and water tower that was due to serve the Mustamäe district in Tallinn lies in its pure technically engineered form. The modern concave roof of the lookout platform was possible thanks to the use of reinforced concrete. The area was under intense development at the time: the ski jumping tower on top of a hill slope in Mustamäe had been completed a year earlier and there were plans to build the campus of the university of technology at its foot. The perspective view shows an architectural drawing style that was common at the beginning of the decade where the classical watercolour and ink drawing has been completed using a wide dark-coloured felt-tip pen. The tower was never built. The drawings from Mart Port´s home archive were given to the museum by his family. Text: Sandra Mälk

Kalle Vellevoog, Velle Kadalipp, 1994. EAM 5.4.76

Competition entry for the Art Museum of Estonia

Based on the location of the project, the authors of the entry “Pont du Parc” saw an opportunity to bring the two districts – Kadriorg and its Baroque park and Lasnamäe with its Soviet-era panel apartment blocks – closer together. The main volume of the Art Museum stretches across the limestone clint in Lasnamäe, thus bridging the two districts with different historical narratives. The elongated main building houses the majority of the exhibition spaces, whereas the round part was designed for storage and service rooms. An axonometric bird’s-eye view of the building in its topographically unique location highlights the “bridge” message between the two areas. The museum was built according to the winning entry by Pekka Vapaavouri, nevertheless the idea of carving through the limestone has leaked to the design of the memorial to victims of communism in Maarjamäe (Kalle Vellevoog, Jaan Tiidemann, Tiiu Truus). The collage was donated to the museum in 2015 by architect Kalle Vellevoog. Text: Sandra Mälk

Eesti Maaehitusprojekt (Estonian Rural Design), 1980s. MEA

Standard designs of Eesti Maaehitusprojekt

Like previously introduced “EKE Projekt” the design institute “Eesti Maaehitusprojekt” (EMP, Estonian Rural Design) also prepared plans for rural settings, starting from 1951. Designs for this widespread bureau included dwellings alongside with greenhouses and sheds. A summer cottage with a shed and a greenhouse named “A85-8” by architects Ado and Niina Eigi was part of a larger collection from series “A-85” by various architects. This 25,5 m2 building with rectangular layout came with a storage-attached greenhouse. It consists mostly of a kitchen and a living room with sleeping area. There is also a small bedroom on the upper floor below the narrow angled roof. A possibilty is offered to build either a veranda or a terrace on the shorter side of the house. Family dwelling “Puravik” (named after Boletus mushrooms) from the same period was designed by architect Priit Kaljapulk in 1989. It has a fully built basement and consists of six rooms for living, in addition of such spaces as pantry and sauna. Other models designed at the same time were named in a similarly interesting style such as “Bruce”, “No-Spa” and “Programm”. The museum has collection of over 20 leaflets made for “EMP”. Text: Maria Pöppönen