Leander's House

One of the most striking architectural structures in the city center of Sortavala is the building of the National Joint-Stock Bank (Kansallis-Osake Pankki). Its architect is considered to be Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, who is one of the most prominent architects in the history of Finland. He was born in 1873 in Rantasalmi, spent his childhood in Ingria (where his father worked as a pastor), graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Helsinki in 1897, and began his career as part of the architectural bureau "Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen," which was formed by young architects striving to realize their creative plans through a new national-romantic direction in the architecture of the northern countries.

The architecture of national romanticism developed within the framework of a new style—Art Nouveau—which embodied various aspects of life, culture, and philosophy. Its characteristic features were a combination of achievements in modern technology and new solutions to functional tasks, while at the same time turning to the traditions of medieval and folk architecture. Although various forms of ancient cult and castle architecture were used here, the main focus was not on stylization but on embodying the fundamental principles of architecture from past centuries, in which, as in nature itself, architects sought prototypes of organic unity.

Based on the original drawings of the building, it can be concluded that it was designed on the legendary villa Vittråsk already during the existence of "Gesellius-Lindgren-Saarinen" in 1903, shortly before the bureau ceased to exist and each architect embarked on a "solo career." According to architectural historians, the main role in designing the building nevertheless belonged to Saarinen.

Saarinen was one of the brightest representatives of the new architectural style in Finland. It is worth noting that he maintained constant contacts with prominent figures of Russian culture— I.E. Grabar, S.P. Diaghilev, N.K. Roerich, A.M. Gorky, was a member of the "World of Art" society, and was elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1906. His most significant works include the railway station building (1905–1914) and the National Museum (1905–1910) in Helsinki, as well as administrative and residential buildings in Finland. Another known creation of the architect in Sortavala is the summer house of Dr. Winter.

Since the late 1920s, the architect worked in the USA, where later his co-author became his son Eero Saarinen. Buildings such as the concert hall in Buffalo, a church in Indiana, and the General Motors technical center in Detroit gained recognition. Eero’s own works also became well known after his father’s death in 1950. The most famous are the terminal of John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and others.

The building in Sortavala was designed to house bank premises on the first floor and several apartments on the second floor, including one for the bank director O. Leander. Construction was completed in 1905.

The urban planning position of the plot in the city center by the main square was very important. This gave rise to the asymmetrical design of the building with an emphasis on the corner part and a distinctly expressed silhouette created by sharp "gable ends." Steep roofs and numerous tall chimney stacks are striking elements of the building’s exterior, and three projecting bay windows also enhance its plasticity. In the exterior decoration, note the relief on the main "gable ends," depicting a peculiar "tree of life," and around the unusually shaped window on the second floor of the main facade. Such stylized plant motifs were characteristic of the Art Nouveau era. The granite cladding of the lower parts of the building was executed at a high level, with the portal shape on Karjalankatu Street (Karelian Street) being particularly expressive. The finishing used local granite from the deposit on the island of Riekkalansaari near Sortavala.

The building was remodeled in 1934 according to a project by the famous architect Lars Sonck—the window openings on the first floor were enlarged.

Architect N.E. Kuspak wrote in his article about the "Leander House": "...it should be noted that not everything succeeded for the young architects in the overall composition of the building; the various facade forms, including the three bay windows, are not fully harmonized and somewhat cluttered with diverse window opening shapes... In short, there are some elements of verbosity in the architecture of the building, but the overall expressive and monumental character with the search for national features in architecture, corresponding to the important location, makes this building one of the best and most memorable in the city..."

During the Soviet period, the "Leander House" was used for various purposes; for a long time it housed the district police department, which caused irreparable damage to the interior decoration. In the early 2000s, a branch of Sberbank moved into the building.

As already mentioned, unfortunately, little of the interior decoration of the building has been preserved; notable are the details of the railing of the main staircase and ceramic stoves with colored tiles on the first and second floors, as well as doors with inserts of glass of unusual shapes.

Sources:

http://heninen.net/sortavala/karta/leanderin_talo/project.htm

Leander House: article by Igor Sergeev (2006)

https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leander_House