Oulu's historic waterfront

The most central of the blocks of wooden buildings are the beach blocks, which are of national historical importance. They are a window on the prosperity of Oulu in the 1870s and 1880s, a time of trade and shipping, when Oulu was home to a large number of merchant ports. After the third and last fire in Oulu, handsome buildings were built on Ranta-, Oja-, and Hallituskatu in the spirit of neo-renaissance and a little Art Nouveau and nickel style. There are also stone buildings.

If you stand back to back with the handsome Toripolis, you will see the pink Höckert house on one side of Rantakatu and the pastel green Jurvelius house on the left. Together, they form a pair that is a prominent and recognisable part of Oulu's market-front cityscape. Incidentally, the Empire-style Jurvelius House is the oldest wooden house on Rantakatu (1828-1945) and is currently used as student accommodation. In 1900, the house was equipped with Oulu's first private electric lighting! Höckert's house dates back to 1838.

The Oja and Hallituskatu streets also still have some of the remains of buildings from the 1882 fire in Oulu. The single-storey wooden neo-renaissance building of the Oulu Trade Club dates from 1884.

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