Ainola’s
architecture and construction
Aino and Jean dreamt of building their own
house from early on. The young family initially lived at various different
addresses in Helsinki, but in the late 19th century, Jean Sibelius started
feeling the need to distance himself from the boisterous artist life in
Helsinki. As Jean later reminisced: “In
Helsinki, all singing inside me died.” The family had grown by four
daughters and experienced a huge loss when daughter Kirsti died in 1901. The large family
longed for a stable and tranquil environment close to nature.
A place for their house was found on a
skiing trip Jean and Eero Järnefelt took in 1902, and Jean bought the plot,
called Kielomäki, from the Järvenpää manor the following year. Ainola is
located on a forested hill, half a kilometre to the east from Lake
Tuusulanjärvi. The plot was initially relatively small, but the estate was
expanded through land acquisitions over the years. In the end, the
approximately four-hectare estate covered the entire forested patch surrounded
by fields.
In the late 19th century, Lake
Tuusulanjärvi attracted a close community of significant young Finnish artists.
The community included, for example, the author Juhani Aho, his artist wife
Venny Soldan-Brofeldt, the author J. H. Erkko and the artists Eero Järnefelt
and Pekka Halonen. When the Sibeliuses moved to Ainola, they became part of a
community of artists already well-known to them. The move turned out to be
decisive also to Sibelius as a composer, since the majority of his compositions
were created in Ainola.
Architecture
and design
Ainola’s main building was designed by
architect Lars Sonck. He was best known for his Art Nouveau churches and
public buildings, but during his career, he also designed dozens of wooden
villas. Ainola differs from Sonck’s previous timber houses, which had been more
strongly influenced by vernacular architecture. In Ainola, the only features
that refer to traditional building styles include the west- and south-end round
log dormer balconies with long corner joints. The different sizes of windows
with glazing bars and dark-green casings as well as the cross-gable roof point
to Art Nouveau.
When architect Lars Sonck started to design
Ainola, Jean Sibelius had two wishes: he wanted a view across Lake
Tuusulanjärvi from his study and a green fireplace in the dining room. These
wishes came true. The west-side of the house, built on a steep hill, has a high
stone foundation and a richly structured façade with large windows over-looking
Lake Tuusulanjärvi. The eastern façade, on the other hand, is one-storey lower
and dominated by a steep monopitch roof with a red brick chimney.
Ainola’s
building work
Ainola’s building work started in autumn
1903 straight after the plot had been purchased, and the project made rapid
progress. The foreman for the project was Rikhard Laine, who had been
recommended by Juhani Aho to the Sibeliuses. Laine had previously worked as the
master builder at Halosenniemi. Approximately five kilometres of timber was
needed for the house, and it was brought all the way from Suolahti in Central
Finland.
The family moved in in autumn 1904. The
timber house was originally not clad on the outside and had a shingle roof with
only the downstairs used as living quarters. The downstairs of the house
featured the master composer’s study, the dining room, two bedrooms and a
kitchen. Behind the kitchen was a room for the family’s long-term employees:
Aino Kari, who worked as a housemaid and a nanny, and the cook Helmi
Vainikainen. The basement also had a room for Heikki Sormunen, who worked as a
caretaker and looked after Ainola’s horse for many years.
Later
renovations
Ainola underwent major renovation work in
1911 when the upstairs was converted into living space. The new upstairs space
included the parents’ bedroom, Jean’s study and a guest room. The rest of the
upstairs was open attic space. The downstairs study was turned into a drawing
room, and a new wider doorway was opened between the dining room and the
drawing room. The timber walls in the drawing room were wallpapered, and the
room was furnished in the bourgeois style of the time. The daughters got both
bedrooms at the back of house. At this stage, the house was clad in white
board, as Sonck had originally designed.
Ainola has been refurbished at various
stages to fit the needs of the inhabitants. In 1915, the kitchen and the
servants’ room, which had become cramped, were expanded. In 1935, the
downstairs library was re-furnished after the youngest daughter Heidi got
married and moved from home. Heidi’s husband, architect Aulis Blomstedt,
designed a cosy library in one of the daughters’ rooms. The other room was made
into a study and a bedroom for Jean because he no longer liked to climb
upstairs.
Ainola’s
interior
Ainola was the Sibeliuses’ home for over 60
years, which is why its interior and furniture represent different eras and
decades. Some of the furniture has found its way to Ainola as inheritance from
both sides of the family; for example, the crystal chandeliers were acquired by
Jean’s uncle, a sea captain. The most recent pieces of furniture are from the
1930s and 1950s. In 1939, the Sibeliuses rented flat on Kammiokatu (now
Sibeliuksenkatu) in Helsinki for which they bought a lot of furniture. The
family gave up the flat after only a couple of years, and all the furniture,
including a dining set designed by Werner West, were brought to Ainola.
Modern
comforts
Electricity was installed in the house
relatively early, already in 1919. A telephone was put in Ainola soon after it
was built in 1904, and the phone number was Järvenpää 22. There was no plumbing
in Ainola during the lifetime on Jean Sibelius, because pipe noises would have
disturbed the composer when he worked. Plumbing was not installed in the house
until 1961. In the same decade, electric heating elements were installed in the
fireplaces.
Sauna
The tar-coated timber sauna building was
completed approximately one year after the main building. In 1925, the sauna
was rebuilt after a fire. The simple sauna building boasts well-balanced and
unassuming proportions, and its special features included an inventive water
supply system. Water was drawn from a near-by well with a shadoof to a spout,
which led directly to the sauna washroom. Another spout led from the hot-water
tank in the corner of the room to the bathtub in the room next door. The system
saved the women of the house many steps both when they were heating the sauna
or doing laundry.
The
Ainola Foundation preserves the original appearance of the house and the
surroundings in cooperation with Senate Properties and the Finnish Heritage
Agency.