City of Helsinki intends to protect its most valuable shopping centres

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According to Helsinki City Museum, at least nine shopping centres out of the total number of 27 malls that were built in the suburbs of Helsinki in the 1950s and 1960s should be preserved. Among them is Finland’s first shopping mall, which was completed in the Munkkivuori suburb of Helsinki in 1959.
      Today, the mall still accommodates two supermarkets, hairdressing salons, banks, a bookstore, a café, and a restaurant.
     
The Munkkivuori mall was first expanded already in 1964. Then a space for a possible underground station was built. The next expansion was made in 1994, when a car park was  built under the shopping centre and an extra wing was added.
      The City Museum argues that originally, esteemed architects designed these shopping malls to be the centres of the entire suburb. They were cosy, as their scale was reasonable, and many of them had even a decorative pool in the inner courtyard. The buildings were coherent and light in colour.
      Moreover, the malls introduced the first self-service shops. Working mothers saved time when they could buy everything in a shopping centre and even take care of their banking matters at the same time.
     
First the depression and later new and larger shopping centres in Helsinki and further out in Espoo have been reducing the number of the old malls' customers. Banks, post offices and small shops have been closed down, and second-hand markets, bars, and pizzerias have occupied the empty premises.
     
The worried vendors in the Munkkivuori mall started planning repairs for their shopping centre. They wanted to cover the inner yard with a roof and demolish the northern wing and erect a larger building to replace it. However, Helsinki City Museum’s view was that the change would totally destroy the original idea of the mall. Currently, the plan is being discussed in the City Planning Department and it will be presented to the citizens in February of next year.
     
Helsinki City Museum would like to preserve nine shopping malls, which are all in good condition and in their original shape. Architecturally, they are of high standard and remind the citizens of the transfer to the consumer society.
      Furthermore, Helsinki City Museum would allow only a few changes in seven other shopping centres in Helsinki. Seeing the shopping centres as part of significant post-war building heritage, the museum would like to avoid making the same mistakes as were made in the 1960s, when old buildings were recklessly demolished in Helsinki.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Major Helsinki region shopping centres into British hands (7.5.2004)

Links:
  Helsinki City Museum

Helsingin Sanomat