23 History of the Eläintarha area In the early 1800s, the planned area of Helsinki only covered Senate Square and its surroundings, Kruununhaka, Kaartinkaupunki, and the area around the present-day Bulevardi street. The city wanted to utilise the unplanned areas and in 1842, on the basis of a plan by Gyldén, the city engineer, it began to divide the all but uninhabited land north of Pitkäsilta bridge and in Töölö into plots for villas. These were leased on long-term contracts as gardens, arable land, pasture, industrial use, or villas and summer homes. This was motivated by both the need for the city to acquire extra income and the desire to line the access roads to the city with more presentable buildings and development. According to the division, there were altogether 86 villas, and the plots were further subdivided. The villa district expanded between the west coast of Töölönlahti bay (Hesperianpuisto park) to Alppipuisto park and Eläintarhanlahti bay. In the 19th century, the coastal line of Töölönlahti bay formed a continuous park district that provided highly valued recreational space for Helsinki residents. Before the building of the railway, the woods on the eastern and northern side of Töölönlahti bay were in an almost natural state and were a popular place for picnics and a natural viewpoint over the bay. The terrain, with its woods and hillocks, was also excellent for skiing and sledging in the winter and cycling and hiking in the summer. In 1851, Henrik Borgström, an influential businessman and patron of the arts and education, established a company to manage the park areas of Töölö and leased the areas of Wiksberg (later called Eläintarha), Mäntymäki and Alppila from the City of Helsinki for 25 years in order to set up a ‘Public Park’ on the northern shores of Töölönlahti bay. The company’s other partners included J.W. Snellman, philosopher and statesman, and Sakari Topelius, writer. The park was designed after the Djurgården park in Stockholm, but contrary to what the Finnish name of the park, or that of its Swedish predecessor, suggests, no zoo was ever built there. There were, however, plans to build a spa for the area’s residents but the building of the railway drained the spring that had been known to exist since the 18th century. The Public Park became highly popular. Working class people would hold their celebrations and meetings on Mäntymäki hill, and students would have their feasts in the new restaurant pavilion, Alppipaviljonki. In 1884 even a busy outdoor bowling green was built next to the restaurant in Kaisaniemi park. The Public Park covered the area between the National Theatre in Kaisaniemi and the present day Alppipuisto park, including areas on the northern and eastern side of Töölönlahti bay. In 1865, Henrik Borgström also commissioned the landscape architect Knut Forsberg to draw plans for 14 villa plots, which were located on the eastern side of Töölönlahti bay and on the northern side of Eläintarhanlahti. The idea was for the villas to be situated so as to allow each villa a sea view and a section of the shoreline. The area had been allocated for four large villa areas, named Fågelsong, Grönudd, Ilola, and Bredvik. When the lease with Borgström’s company expired, the city purchased Forsberg’s plan for the new villa district. Borgström agreed to hand over the area to the city on condition that the parks were preserved. In 1870, the city divided the villas into two types: “residential villas”, in the vicinity of which no production plants were allowed, and ones which were situated on plots
Elaintarhan huvilahistoriikki
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