Tampere 1912

The corner of Hämeenkatu and Kauppakatu, 1912.

From the left: the House of Kansallispankki (built 1904-16) and the House of Blom (built 1907, demolished 1955),
both by architect Birger Federley (1874-1935).

Photographer unknown, the image in public domain (as far as I know).

Some years ago I was planning as student work a documentary of Tampere's old Jugendstil (related to Art Nouveau/Secessionism) buildings of the late 19th and early 20th century, many of them sadly demolished now.

As there was too much else to do those days, I had to put the planned documentary project on the back burner, hopefully to be retrieved in some form one day...

About Birger Federley:

Carl Birger Federley (17 February 1874 – 29 March 1935) studied architecture in Helsinki with fellow students such as Lars Sonck and Wivi Lönn, as well as the later world-famous trio Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen.

In 1892 Birger Federley graduated from Nya svenska läroverket i Helsingfors, Helsinki's New Swedish National Agency for Education. As an architect he graduated from the Polytechnic School in Helsinki in 1896. In 1898 he initially worked with architect Lars Sonck but later that year he founded his own agency in Tampere. During the years 1900 and 1901 Federley worked as the city architect in Tampere. At the beginning of the 20th century, Federley's architecture mostly represented Art Nouveau style, but after the Finnish Civil War of 1918 he transitioned to Classicism.

Birger Federley spent his entire career, lasting over thirty years, as an architect in Tampere. He is considered a quintessential Art Nouveau architect, and many of the Art Nouveau landmarks in Tampere’s cityscape, such as De Gamlas Hem, the House of Palander, Laukonlinna, Kymmenenmies House, National Bank Building, "Tuominen Stone Wall", Shipping Company Building, and Frenckell Factory Area, were created at his desk. He designed the House of Tirkkonen House together with Lars Sonck and the Tirkkonen Fountain in Näsinpuisto in collaboration with Emil Wickström.

As a designer, Federley was prolific and versatile. He created various buildings for industrial needs in Tampere and elsewhere in Finland, summer villas and industrial leaders’ villas, hospital buildings, two churches, as well as interiors, furniture, and business logos. Federley was a trusted designer of manors and was considered an expert on workers’ housing conditions in Finland at the time.