The railway from Tampere to Pori was built in the 1890s, and the first railway station in Pori was completed in 1895. It was destroyed during the Civil War in 1918. The next station, designed by Thure Hellström from the State Railways, was completed in 1919.

The third railway station building in the Pori was designed by architect Hellström as well. It was built in 1937 when the Tampere-Pori railway was extended from Tampere to Haapamäki industrial area in Central Finland. The railway was an important transportation route to deliver goods to the Pori harbour. The new station building and a separate goods station were situated on a new plot, near the city centre, according to a city plan from 1922. The old station was turned into an apartment building a few years later. The plan for a new railway station park was designed in 1945 by the head gardener Kaarlo Jokela from the State Railways. He continued to develop the plan in the 1950s.The partly two-storey station building represents the turn from the Nordic Classicism to the functionalist style. The brick-building has a cream white plaster cover and a hipped roof. The two-storey part of the building consists of the station hall, restrooms and technical spaces. It has a wider frame than the one-storey wings. The lower wings were planned for the use of a telegraph office, post office, restaurant and its kitchen, a left-luggage office, book shop and toilets. The basement floor was used as storage space, and there was even a room for an oil tank before the heating was refurbished. The station building and its interiors were planned to stand for heavy use and strain of the traffic.

Some of the Pori railway station’s contemporaries were railway stations in Turku and Tampere. Thure Hellström worked most of his career at the State Railways. Hämeenlinna and Kuopio railway stations are among the most well-known station buildings designed by Hellström.

Source: Satakunta Museum