A Son of the Rock

Art Nouveau Street:-

Not Art Nouveau, but a nice twin-spired church:-

Yellow building photographed from coach stop. South Korean embassy/consulate to left here:-

Espressso House. Shot as coach passed by on the way back to the ship:-

Deco detail on building, Maranello Women. (A hairdresser’s?) Snatched as coach passed by:-

There is some impressive architecture in Senate Square, Helsinki.

University building on corner with Unioninkatu and Alesanterinkatu:-

Unioninkatu frontage:-

Senate Square is dominated by Helsinki Cathedral:-

Lamppost by statue of Alexander II:-

These buildings flanked Esplanadi:-

Ground floor detail:-

Upper floors:-

A bit further along:-

I can’t remember which street this was on:-

On the corner of Bulevardi and Errotajankatu is the rather pleasing Rake:

A quirky little kiosk, labelled 1893, Kesamokki. Kesamokki means Summer House:-

A restaurant:-

We looked at the menu. Pricy. Also one of the dishes featured carrot foam. What?

This rather differently styled building seemed to be part of the same establishment:-

Esplanadi is a small green area in the middle of Helsinki city centre. It had some Art Deco.

Espan Lava. (I have no idea what that means.) The building certainly has horizontals and verticals, though:-

An Art Deco Kiosk, Helsinki. What seems to be the Canadian Embassy is over the road:-

Close-up from reverse:-

Teatern, Helsinki. Art Deco style. Horizontals, verticals, flag pole. I assumed Teatern meant Theatre. It does:-

Stockman, a shop a bit up from Esplanadi, has elements of At Deco but probably post-dates it:-

We continued to walk through this (see previous post) until we came out the main entrance.

Booking Hall wall and clock:-

Booking Hall:-

Mural and Clock:-

Reverse view of interior semi-circular window:-

Canopy above main entrance:-

Figures by main entrance. (These are mirrored on the other flank of the doors):-

Clock Tower:-

Main Entrance and facade. (A stitch of two photos):-

Remember those giraffes in Helsinki?

More understandably I think, that same building had a statue of an elk outside it. (I’d forgotten it till I checked my photos again.)

My first glimpse of Helsinki Central Railway Station was from a distance. I had seen this clock tower on the way to the Sibelius Monument and thought, that looks deco, so resolved to photograph it on the way back:-

We wandered closer to investigate and discovered the building it served is the Central Railway Station. I suppose technically it’s not Deco as it was designed and built before 1920. It has elements of Art Nouveau tipping over into Deco though. The building is a masterpiece.

This is only its side entrance:-

Close-up on arched window. Note also canopy and doors:-

The interior was stunnning. This, arched ceiling, clock, interior partition windows is the least of it. The light fitting is a bit modern, though:-

Great decoration below arched ceiling:-

Looking towards main entrance. Rule of three in partition windows. Great decoration on pillars and surround:-

Concourse:-

Arched window from inside:-

This arched partition window is wonderful:-

Hallway:-

Detail:-

Another arched window:-

There’s more of this to come!

Helsinki has some nice trams.

I saw a great looking old one first but didn’t have my camera ready. Sadly it didn’t pass again.

All these are fairly modern:-

There’s a bit more age here I think:-

This one had an advertising slogan on it. Don’t ask me what the Finnish means!:-