Presidential Palace: Finland’s Official Presidential Residence in Helsinki
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Finland
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page10 sections
History
Presidential Palace is a neoclassical building in Helsinki, Finland, developed in the nineteenth century from a merchant’s residence and later used as the Imperial Palace of the Russian emperors in their role as Grand Dukes of Finland. It became the official working and residential palace of Finland’s presidents during the twentieth century and remains one of the three official residences of the President of the Republic of Finland.
From salt storehouse to imperial residence
A salt storehouse occupied the site in the early nineteenth century. Helsinki merchant Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch purchased the lot and commissioned a grand residence, which was built between 1816 and 1820 to designs by Pehr Granstedt. Its imposing scale gave it the appearance of a palace rather than an ordinary merchant’s house.
In 1837, the government purchased the residence for 170,000 rubles as a home for the Governor-General of Finland, the Russian emperor’s highest administrative representative in the Grand Duchy of Finland. At the wish of Emperor Nicholas I, the building was instead converted into the official Helsinki residence of the emperor, who was also Grand Duke of Finland. It consequently became known as the Imperial Palace.
Major reconstruction and furnishing took place from 1843 to 1845. Carl Ludvig Engel directed the work, with his son Carl Alexander Engel continuing it after his death, while Giacomo Quarenghi also contributed to the plans. The timber storehouses behind the residence were demolished, and a new northern wing was added. The completed palace was often empty and was not regularly heated, so it required periodic repairs.
The imperial period
Grand Duke Constantine, the younger son of Nicholas I, was the first member of the imperial family to stay in the palace. He lived there for a month in February 1854. His brother Nicholas visited in 1855, followed by Nicholas, Alexander, and Vladimir in 1856.
The palace reached its most ceremonially prominent period during the reign of Alexander II. He stayed there in 1863 and 1876, and in 1863 he opened the Diet of Finland in the Great Ballroom. The Diet was Finland’s representative legislative body under the Russian Empire, and its formal opening and closing were important constitutional occasions. For the ceremony, the ballroom was transformed into a throne room, with the imperial throne placed on a raised platform. The room continued to host Diet opening and closing ceremonies until 1906.
Alexander III stayed at the palace in 1885, although he more often lived at Langinkoski. The final imperial family visit took place in 1915, when Nicholas II stayed for one day. The building served as an imperial-family residence until 1917.
War, revolution, and the abandoned monarchy
During the First World War, the palace was converted into Helsinki Temporary Military Hospital I in October 1915. After the February Revolution of 1917, which ended Nicholas II’s reign and dismantled the Russian imperial political order, the emperor abdicated. The Finnish Senate, then the country’s governing and judicial institution, took control of the building, which was renamed the Former Imperial Palace.
From March 1917 to April 1918, the palace housed the executive committee of the Helsinki Workers’ and Soldiers’ Soviet. After the Finnish Civil War of 1918, fought between Red and White factions with German military support for the Whites, German and White Finnish military personnel used the building temporarily.
Repairs and alterations began in June 1918 to prepare the palace as a royal residence for Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, who had been elected King of Finland in October. He renounced the throne in December 1918 because of the international political situation after the First World War. The upper floors were then used by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
Presidential palace
After Finland adopted its new Constitution in 1919, the former Imperial Palace was selected as the most suitable official residence for the president. Repairs were carried out quickly, while furnishings and art collections were brought back from storage at the National Museum of Finland and the Ateneum art museum. The building was officially renamed the Presidential Palace in the second half of 1918.
From 1921 until 1993, the palace served as both the working and residential presidential residence. It was the official home of Finnish presidents except Risto Ryti, Gustaf Mannerheim, and Urho Kekkonen, who preferred Tamminiemi. Kekkonen and his wife later moved to the palace because of nearby traffic noise and the lack of gardens. During Mauno Koivisto’s presidency, the palace again served as the principal presidential residence until Mäntyniemi was completed.
Martti Välikangas refurbished and modernized the building in 1938. Major renovations from 2012 to 2014 updated its building-services engineering. The Finnish state owns the palace, which is protected under Finnish decree 480/85 and a town-planning protection plan adopted in 1988. Today it is used for presidential official functions and receptions, including state banquets, the Independence Day reception, and promotion and appointment ceremonies for Defence Forces and Frontier Guard cadets. Visiting foreign dignitaries are now housed at other state residences and guest facilities.
Remains
Building and courtyard wing
The Presidential Palace is a neoclassical building on the north side of Esplanadi, overlooking Helsinki Market Square, with entrances and addresses on Pohjoisesplanadi and Mariankatu. Neoclassicism draws on the forms and proportions of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The original residence consisted of two wings and a central section arranged around a hall with a column-lined, framed-beam ceiling. Its large scale established the palace-like character that the later government building retained.
The reconstruction of 1843 to 1845 extended the complex along the north side of the courtyard. The new wing was built after the rear timber storehouses were removed. Its second floor contained a chapel, now used as the library, together with a ballroom, a banquet hall linked directly to the reception floor of the earlier main building, and a kitchen. The palace has nearly 3,000 square metres of floor space.
Reception rooms and presidential interiors
State rooms
The 1904 to 1907 refurbishment by Johan Jacob Ahrenberg created a new suite of reception rooms. It included a new throne room, now called the Hall of State, and a reception vestibule facing Mariankatu. Walter Runeberg’s sculpture Psyche and Zephyr was installed in the Hall of State. The principal ceremonial rooms also include the Dining Hall and the Hall of Mirrors, which is also known as the small Hall of State.
Private and working spaces
The third floor contains private presidential apartments and reception rooms, including the Yellow Room, the Red Waiting Room, and the President’s Study. Accommodation and private apartments are also provided for the president’s family. Most of the building is occupied by offices and staff facilities, including the Office of the President, the Secretary General’s office, the Special Counsel’s office, the presidential cabinet, military aides-de-camp, and household staff.
Nearby sites
