Tiirasaari Kerhola

Tiirasaari, located on the west side of Lauttasaari, is owned by Lähi-Tapiola, and the several old wooden buildings on the island are used for the company’s PR and training purposes. The island is beautifully located with open rocky shoreline and trees. Kerhola was constructed for salesman Carl Palmgren in 1917 and was extended in the 1950s. The building is a typical 1910s style villa with its combinations of a wide range of stylistic themes from different eras, two floors and timber structures. Today the villa serves as a restaurant. 

Numerous alterations have been made to the original architecture, which have changed its appearance both inside and out. In 1953, for example, a large glass veranda was constructed, and the interior and the surface materials before our restoration were the result of a renovation carried out in 2000. Thus, the villa had no original visible building components left except for a few windows. The appearance of the villa was restored to its presumed original form. The remaining windows were renovated, and other windows were replaced with wooden windows reciprocating the original ones.   

The cladding was painted in the original yellow, and window frames, veranda columns and hand rails white. The façade of the glass veranda was painted white, and a cold store and technical spaces were built underneath it. The roof of the original villa had been made of red clay brick, but due to the durability of the roof support structures, we decided to replace the original with a tin roof. In the pictures, the tin roof has not yet been painted. 

Kerhola’s interiors and surface materials before our restoration were the result of a renovation carried out in 2000. The interiors were partly in good shape, but the character of the old villa had been lost. We carefully renovated the interiors, restoring the original feel. We replaced the old steel spiral staircase with a wooden one, renovated the old furniture, renewed the surfaces and part of the interior.