Helsinki City Hall

Helsinki City Hall includes the former 19th-century Society House, designed by C. L. Engel, in the southern part of the block. The building was converted into a town hall in the 1960s, according to Professor Aarno Ruusuvuori’s drawings. The town hall complex also contains parts of the 19th-century trading houses and Ruusuvuori’s 1980s Council Hall in the heart of the block. The oldest parts of the block are from the early 1830s. The building based on Engel’s design included a hotel and restaurants. Its façades are in the Empire style, like the other buildings around Senate Square. The building has since been raised and expanded in stages. The only surviving 19th-century interiors are the ballroom, the corner rooms and the vestibule defined by arched vaults. In the 1960s, town hall operations expanded to the entire Lion’s Quarter, where the old Society House was located. Ruusuvuori’s plan preserved the façades but radically changed the interior.

In the renovation, we designed solutions that addressed the special nature of the building, both as a protected site and as the most significant representative building of the City of Helsinki. Our plans ensured high-quality protection, demolition, construction and surface repairs.

The revitalisation goals of the Torikorttelit project were implemented by opening the ground floor of City Hall and the staff restaurant for public use.