Architect
Erik Bryggman
Competition
1936
Completion
1938
Renovation
1952
Themes
Erik Bryggman’s architecture
Category
Commercial buildings Office buildings Residential buildings
Tags
block of flats brick Functionalism

Bryggman won joint second prize in the 1936 architectural competition for the Sampo Insurance Company building, sharing the prize with architects Gunnar Taucher and Yngve Lagerblad. The building was realised according to Bryggman’s plans.

On the main street side, on Yliopistonkatu street, the building housed shops on the first two floors, which were followed by an office floor and three floors of rental apartments. The main entrance to the insurance company offices was through an entrance hall on the main street. The sales hall and accounting department were on the Puolalankatu street side, divided off by a glass wall and topped by four floors of office spaces. The company boardroom and director’s office as well as the staff canteen and a festive hall were in the set-back upper floors. A paternoster lift and main stairs were located deep in the building’s core.

The façades of the building were clad with sand-coloured, sand-blasted clinker tiles. The rhythm of fenestration layout was enlivened with vertical and horizontal divisions and small windows. The design and selection of fittings and furniture was included in Bryggman’s commission, for which he used several types of wood from elm, oak and beech to Makassar ebony.

On the ground floor there was a bakers’ shop and a café on the first floor. An impressive spiral staircase lead from the shop to the café.

The building has been heightened and extended several times and the windows and most interior materials have been replaced.

Text: Mikko Laaksonen

Location

Yliopistonkatu 27 a, Turku
60.4511414, 22.2630184

Images

Yliopistonkatu street side, Sampo House
Yliopistonkatu street side, Sampo House (© Welin / MFA)
Insurance sales office, Sampo House
Insurance sales office, Sampo House (© MFA)
The Lehtinen baker's shop and staircase leading to the café, Sampo House
The Lehtinen baker's shop and staircase leading to the café, Sampo House (© Welin / MFA)
J. R. Lehtinen café on the first floor, Sampo House
J. R. Lehtinen café on the first floor, Sampo House (© Welin / MFA)
The extension was designed by Bryggman in 1951–53, Sampo House
The extension was designed by Bryggman in 1951–53, Sampo House (© MFA)
Sampo House
Sampo House (© Mikko Laaksonen / Bryggman Institute)
Competition entry perspective drawing of the entrance corridor, Sampo House
Competition entry perspective drawing of the entrance corridor, Sampo House (© MFA)

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