At the turn of the century, a new style began to take shape. It was actually called the "new style" (Art Nouveau, Jugendstil, Modern). Finnish architects took the best from various styles and added to them the national romanticism of Finland, which became the final push that formed the Northern Modern. In architecture, it was characterized by the extensive use of natural stone, roughly processed, with gray and pastel, sometimes even swampy tones, and an active immersion into the newly acquired national mythology, collected by researchers during the era of national revival. Moreover, for the residents of St. Petersburg building dachas on the Finnish coast, the solutions and examples of Northern Modern country houses were very appealing, as they prioritized both closeness to nature and the comfort of those living in such homes. The widespread use not only of stone but also of accessible wood led to the spread of houses "in the Scandinavian style." Of course, political peculiarities also played a role. After all, Finland at that time was, although fairly autonomous, still part of the Russian Empire. Eliel Saarinen (who spent his childhood near Gatchina) and Lars Sonck were the brightest representatives of Finnish national romanticism (one of Lars Sonck’s wooden buildings surprisingly still survives in the village of Kurkieki — now within the territory of the Republic of Karelia).

Jermaine