December 5th Old Town Raahe Advent Calendar

Koulukatu street 6, Guesthouse Wanhakulma, window on the Kauppakatu street side

During the sailing ship era, the building was owned by sea captain Anders Lindman. After several changes of ownership, the building was used by Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (commercial bank). From 1973 to 2000, it was owned by the city of Raahe.

Old Town Raahe Advent Calendar window, where an elf is peeking through a window.

"This house, originally owned by Henrik Montin, was completed in 1812 to replace a residential building destroyed in the great city fire of 1810. Later, the house was owned by, among others, sea captain Anders Lindman." (Old Town Raahe Foundation, text: Eija Turunen)

The poetic sea captain Lindman

The archives of the Raahe City Technical Services Center show that the property was owned by Sofia Lindman, the widow of a ship captain, until May 25, 1891, when it was registered as being owned by sea captain Joh. And. Lindman and Miss Anna Elvina Lindman.

Anders Lindman (born in Pattijoki on March 24, 1790, died at sea in 1830) and his son Johan were both poets. The father wrote in Finnish and Swedish, while the son wrote in Swedish. In Lauri Pyy's writing about sea poets from Raahe, Anders is considered the most talented. Sixty of Anders' poems have been found in Aira Hellaakoski's estate. Most of them are written in the style of the Kalevala poems.

Anders Lindman's sister Katharina's daughter, Aina Maria (1858–1943), worked in her own sewing shop after attending a fashion sewing course in Helsinki. In 1892, she married Antti Rieti Hellaakoski (1858–1945). They had known each other since their youth, but were over thirty when they got married. The couple settled together in Oulu.

Raahe Ltd’s office

The property changed hands several times in the early 20th century. In 1918, it was purchased by Raahe Ltd for use as its office. Raahe corporation (known as Raahen Puutavara corporation until 1917) was a Finnish forest industry company operating in the Raahe and Oulu regions from 1900 to 1942, engaged in sawmill operations. The company was founded in 1900 by Arthur Lagerlöf.

Raahe corporation merged with Rauma corporation (formerly Rauma Wood corporation) in 1942 to form a new company called Rauma-Raahe corporation. The next merger took place in 1952, when Rauma-Raahe Ltd, Lahti Ltd, and Repola-Wiipuri Ltd were merged to form Rauma-Repola Ltd.

Civil Guard Office

The Civil Guard office had to move from one location to another before it was able to purchase its own building. In May 1925, the Civil Guard district's daily order included information about the relocation of the headquarters office, this time to the Raahe Ltd building at Menzerinkatu street 6 (now Koulukatu street).

The Raahe Civil Guard district's wish for its own office building came true in 1927, when the district acquired a property in Paavonperä (now the hill of Tornitalo) at the corner of Rantakatu street and Fellmaninpuistokatu street. This building, constructed by sea captain Durchman in the late 19th century, was located on the site of the current government office building.

The headquarters of Kansallis-Osake-Pankki for decades

On September 1, 1894, a letter was sent from the city of Raahe to the head office of Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (national bank), requesting a branch office to be established there. The applicants knew a suitable man to head the branch. His name was Hugo Stenlund, who was thoroughly familiar with the local business community. The bank opened its doors on December 6, 1894, in a building located on Kauppakatu street.

In 1929, Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (national bank) purchased this building. KOP's new branch was completed in 1971 on Kirkkokatu street.

City agencies

Several Raahe City offices served residents in this corner building from 1973 to 2000. The cashier's office and the accountant's office were located on the Kauppakatu street side, while payroll and accounting were located on the Koulukatu street side.

The rooms on the Koulukatu street side also housed the social services office, the youth office, and the energy department. The courtyard building housed the cultural office. It was later rented out as an apartment. The real estate and surveying department operated in the building in the 1990s.

When the cash office was operating in the building, Asko Björkman, Pirjo Siuvatti, Martti Lantto, Jaakko Nahkuri, and Risto Hyvönen worked as accountants.

One morning, when the finance office staff arrived at work, they were quite surprised to find a couple of gas welding bottles next to the large safe. The thieves, who had broken in through the back door, had taken a large bar from the wall and used it to protect the floor. They had worked very neatly. Nothing had been broken, only the safe had been welded open. This safe only contained a small amount of cash and checkbooks. The haul was not very large. After the incident, the safe in the customer area was emptied at the end of the day and the money was taken to the vault downstairs.