Text version of the virtual tour of the Sovelius House

The Sovelius House

The House of the Sovelius Foundation is the oldest surviving residential building in Raahe. It is the only house representing two-storey urban construction in Raahe because, after the fire of 1810, the construction of two-storey houses was prohibited. The Sovelius House is located on the same plot as the grand town palace built by the first mayor of Raahe, Henric Corte, after the middle of the 17th century. There were three generations of mayors in the Corte family, and they all lived in the same house. After the mayors, the plot and its buildings were held by different owners until they were bought by merchant Matts Sovelius on 5 May 1777. Merchant Sovelius (13 December 1726–25 January 1795) built an impressive new main building on the plot, which has been preserved until today almost in its original appearance. According to the population register, residents moved to the property during the 1780s.

The Sovelius House is a typical 18th-century bourgeois house.  It is a two-storey building with a saddle roof on a high stone foundation, with exterior walls of vertical timber weatherboarding. It also has a Carolinian floor plan. These are all features that came into fashion during the 18th century. According to the surviving fire insurance documents, the Sovelius House was completed in the early 1780s. The rooms upstairs were raised and the windows enlarged in the 1890s. The porch on the courtyard side was built in the 1910s. Supposedly, at the same time, separate entrances were made for both floors. Otherwise, the house has preserved its original appearance amazingly well, including the room arrangements. The pure Carolinian floor plan can be seen on both floors: behind the wide hall, there is a drawing room with two rooms on each side.

In 1886, merchant and alderman Henrik Sovelius established the Soveliuksen Apurahasto (Soveliuska understödsfonden) fund, which owns the Sovelius House. The Sovelius House was to become a residence for members of the family and possibly other tenants. Between 1897 and 1912, the Swedish Club, which was maintained by an association called Svenska bildningens vänner, was located on the upper floor of the building. The Raahe teacher seminary’s canteen cooperative “Oma Pata” was also a tenant in the house in 1909–12. Otherwise, the tenants have been private individuals. Since 1974, the house has been rented to the Town of Raahe. The Raahe Music School operated in the house until 1989, and now it has been leased to the Raahe Museum under a long-term lease agreement.

Based on a surface treatment study, a conservation plan was made and the upstairs was restored to its 1890s appearance. The Shipowner’s Home, an 1890s home interior complete with furniture, green plants, paintings and accessories, was opened in 1999. The Shipowner’s Home is a window on the lifestyle and way of life of a prosperous bourgeois home during Raahe’s heyday during the Age of Sail.

Shipowner’s home – a wealthy bourgeois home in raahe from the 1890s      

The upper floor of the Sovelius House, built in the 1780s, has been restored to its 1890s appearance. This era was chosen because the house underwent major changes at that time: the ceiling was raised, the doors leading to the hall were replaced with high double doors, and the windows of the whole house were made larger. In the hall and kitchen, the original room height has been maintained. Based on the scraps of wallpaper found on the walls dating back to the 1890s, the conservator of the Raahe Museum produced models of the wallpaper, i.e. silk screens, with which the patterns were pressed manually onto kraft paper. Each room has exactly the kind of wallpaper it had in the 1890s. The materials and colours of the floors and ceilings are also identical to those of the 1890s. Most of the carpets and curtains were made according to the old designs. The small embroidered carpets under the tables are from the museum’s collections.

Hall  

The hall features an elegant empire-style mirror from the early decades of the 19th century. The hallway furniture is complemented by an impressive wardrobe for outdoor clothes and an umbrella stand. The beautiful pink lamp in the hall is a so-called “månsken” or moonlight lantern that brings atmospheric light into the room.

Calling card bowl   

There is a calling card bowl on the lobby table, in which the visitor could leave their card if the host was not present.

Bedroom 

Pull-out beds

The bedroom contains the master’s and mistress’s pull-out beds, also known as imperial beds, which at night were pulled out to their proper length. In the daytime, the massive pile of bedclothes was arranged in its proper place.

Embroideries 

The training of handicraft skills, which were so important to the daughters, began at a young age, and the embroidered sheet was the first skills demonstration. On the wall next to the lady’s bureau is the embroidered sheet of Helena Leufstadius from 1848. Anna Leufstadius (1840–1901) was the daughter of sea captain, tobacco maker Johan Leufstadius (1795–1867) and Catharina Christina Hallberg (1806–1889). the initials and dates of birth of all members of the family are marked on the embroidered sheet. Anna Leufstadius and her brother, sea captain Hans Johan, established with testamentary provisions the “Raahe retirement home” for gentlewomen, which operated for a long time in their house at the crossing of Cortenkatu and Rantakatu.

Bag for handicrafts

Embroidered sheets and all other textiles were hand-sewn by the light of an oil lamp or candle, in the absence of daylight. Regardless of their social class, the women of old always did crafts in their spare time, and when they visited someone, they always took a handicraft bag.

 

The master's room

The master’s room was the men’s domain. This is where the shipowner handled his business, correspondence and friendships, and women usually had no business there.

Candle holders – a sign of pining for love 

These candle holders, apparently designed by a local coppersmith, probably date back to the last decade of the 18th century. The story of these candle holders is a romantic tale of the love and loyalty of two young Raahe residents that lasted throughout their lives.

Cousins in love

The main characters in the love story are a man named Johan Sovelius (1770–1852), a wealthy businessman who sailed the seas, and his beautiful cousin Catharina (1769–1840), the daughter of the wealthy merchant Baltzar Freitag. From a very young age, these young people were said to have enjoyed each other’s company. The townspeople were anxiously awaiting a big wedding. The wise people knew of course that cousins could not marry but, with the King’s permission, such a thing would be possible. It was known that permission for marriage had been applied for. Both families had influential referees in Stockholm, and it was believed that permission would be obtained. Nevertheless, permission was rejected, but Johan decided to renew his application in person. He sailed to Stockholm, where he was able to present the matter to the King himself, but permission was still not granted. The reason for the rejection is not known. Catharina and Johan pledged eternal faithfulness and did not want to hear of any other marital candidates. There would have been plenty of candidates for both of them, as both families were very well off. Catharina and Johan had these candle holders made for them and decided to burn the candles whenever one of them was really pining for the other. Johan lived in the green Sovelius House, and Catharina lived on the other side of the current Myhrberg Park, then market square, on Brahenkatu. Soon the locals began to see twinkling of the candles from the windows of the opposite houses. Most of the time, they burned at the same time. When one pair of candles was lit, the other was soon seen as well. The purpose of the candles was known to all. The continuation of the romance was followed with emotion and even curiosity.

Petition to the King

When the young King Gustav IV Adolf arrived in Raahe on his visit to Finland in 1802, he was accommodated in the house of Johan Sovelius. The master was reported to have spread a roll of blue broadcloth from the street to his courtyard, so the King would not have to get his shoes dirty. Although Johan certainly entertained the King and his spouse in the best way possible and acted according to all the rules of the art, even then permission was not given.

After the War of Finland, Raahe received information about the new Grand Duke of Finland, who was said to be gentle and understanding. A new application for permission to marry was made, but the decision was once again negative!

Years go by

Life in the small town continued. Johan concentrated on his sizeable business affairs while acting as the town’s alderman. Johan Sovelius grew lonelier and colder year by year. But even in the midst of all the haste, the delicate thoughts would come back to him, and the candles would be lit on his window again, illuminating the uncovered windows and the rooms with their ship paintings. When the candles were also lit next door, there were no curtains in front of the windows there either. Catharina would often place herself by the window, looking thoughtful, at times sitting down to read or sew.

Decades passed. The cousins continued their lonely lives loyal to each other. The flame in Catharina’s candles went out for good in 1840. Lonelier still, almost a recluse, Johan continued his life but did not forget his Catharina. From time to time, Johan’s candles were still seen twinkling and a grey, long-haired man was seen sitting deep in thoughts by his stacks of documents. On a July morning in 1852, Johan was found dead at his window, kneeling. Next to him was the brass candle holder with the candles burned out.

What makes this story particularly unfair is that Johan’s sister Katarina Sovelius (1783–1862) was allowed to marry her cousin Josef Nilsson Sovelius (1777–1827). Katarina’s and Josef’s fathers were brothers Matts Johansson Sovelius (1726–1795) and Nils Johansson Sovelius (1737–1802), and their mothers were sisters Brita (1742–1808) and Elisabeth Possenius (1741–1798). In this union, if anywhere, there was a risk of severe hereditary diseases. Although the siblings Johan and Katarina had quite a large age difference, Katarina married in the early years of the 19th century, around the time when brother Johan was still applying for permission for his own marriage!

The tragic character of Johan still pervades his home, which now hosts the “Shipowner’s Home” and the museum office.

 

Bacchus – from Lang’s wharf to the barn wall

In September 1875, the bark Bacchus was launched at Johan Lang’s wharf in Raahe. The Raahe residents did not quite understand the greatness of the ancient Roman name, wondering instead:

“What an ugly name for a handsome ship: Pakhuusi [‘Packhouse’]!”

J. Wicklund had been the master builder of the bark with a capacity of 425 lasts, and Fredrik Björkvist (1831–1891) was hired as its captain. The captain was known among the sailors as Nälkvist (‘Hungerkvist’), as the food in his ships was often bad and there was very little of it.

The vessel started ploughing through the seas in mid-September by sailing ballast-laden from Raahe to Reposaari, where timber was loaded onto the ship. The actual maiden voyage was made from Reposaari to Hull, England, in October–November 1875. At Epiphany in 1876, the voyage continued from Hull towards New Orleans, which was reached on 21 March. During its life, the Bacchus sailed mainly between Europe and North America, and the captain was always Björkvist.

In 1886, there was an incident that was widely reported in domestic newspapers. On its voyage, the Bacchus encountered the American schooner Ida Francis, whose crew were suffering from a lack of food and water. Essential supplies were handed over from the Bacchus to those in need, allowing Ida Francis to reach its destination in London. The Americans’ thanks to the captain and crew of the Bacchus were later published in The Times. Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, awarded Captain Björkvist a gold medal for his assistance to the crew of the Ida Francis in distress. The story does not tell whether the sailors stopped calling the captain by the nickname after the incident.

The Bacchus made its last voyage from Pensacola, Florida to Saint Nazaire, France in early 1888. As it continued its journey ballast-laden from Saint Nazaire towards Vyborg, the vessel ran aground off the coast of Jutland on 19 April at 2 a.m. The ballast was thrown into the sea and the anchors were lowered, but the currents and the wind carried the vessel to shore, where it ran aground on the sandy bottom. The captain called in a steam tug from Bremen, which tried to get the ship off without success. The ship was thus emptied of its movables and declared a wreck on 25 April. The next day, when the people on the ship had been found healthy and free of disease by the local health authorities, the crew of 14 disembarked. The crew of the Bacchus returned to their home country on board the familiar brig Ahto from Raahe. The Ahto arrived in Kotka on 15 May 1888.

However, the story of the Bacchus does not end here. Recently, our museum received an interesting e-mail from Denmark. Farm owner Mikael Bramsen wrote that there was a barn on his farm in Ulfborg that was built from pieces of the wreck of the ship Bacchus from Raahe. Parts of the wreck also found their way to another farm in Bjerghuse,

as the wreck of Bacchus was auctioned off after the shipwreck and its parts ended up in the possession of two local farmers. Both were able to build a barn on their farms from the parts of the wreck. There is even a Bacchus sign on the wall of one barn. Danish contemporary sources, such as the record of the auction following the shipwreck, as well as contemporary expert reports, prove that what Bramsen said is true. Truth is stranger than fiction! It warms our hearts to know that the ship that left Raahe all those decades ago continues its life as barn walls on the Danish coast, and stories of the ship and its wreck are still being told among the locals.

Captain Björkvist wrote his personal thanks in the guest book of the Danish family who accommodated him. The text has partly faded away, and the captain must have been emotional when he wrote his thanks, as the words and sentences have been formed quite carelessly.

In English, Björkvist’s words of thanks would be something like this:

My heartfelt gratitude for the care and sympathy that people have shown during my stay in the locality. I have never experienced anything like it before, and I will always warmly remember the kind people.

13 May 1888

Fredrik Björkvist from Raahe, Finland, who steered the late Bacchus, which was left here on the coast in small pieces.

Pipe shelf

The impressive pipe shelf was the master’s pride. The women in the house made sure that the shipowner’s pipe stems were beautifully decorated with beadwork and cross-stitch.

 

The drawing room of the bourgeois home – a mirror of wealth 

The drawing room reflected the owner’s financial wealth. It housed the most beautiful and valuable decorative objects and furniture, which were, for example, purchased abroad or received as inheritance. Usually there were a couple of comfortable sofa sets, a musical instrument and plenty of large green plants, paintings and decorative objects in the drawing room. It was common for the daughters of the family to receive musical instruction in addition to introduction in dainty behaviour and French, often even abroad. In the old days, musical skills were a part of the general education of young ladies in particular. At any party, the daughter or daughters of the house would perform some carefully rehearsed songs for guests.  The gorgeous square piano in the drawing room was made in Saint Petersburg and given as a wedding gift in 1874 to a couple married in Vyborg.

Next to the massive door curtain, there is a rack for decorative items and other small items. There is a beautiful neoclassical ensemble on the top shelf of the rack: candlesticks and a pendulum clock with shapes and decorative motifs inspired by ancient architecture. The rack was usually loaded with all kinds of decorative objects, photo albums and large shells from across the seas. Next to the rack is a magnificent Venetian mirror. The mirror on the window wall was brought by a sea captain from his voyages. According to tradition, it was brought by ship from Copenhagen in 1880 or 1885.

The colourful Neo-Rococo sofa set was manufactured by customs inspector C.G. Wallenius from Raahe. In his spare time, Mr Wallenius made such sophisticated furniture for Raahe homes. Underneath the contemporary upholstery fabrics, a strip of the original upholstery fabric was found, on the basis of which the current upholstery fabric was designed and constructed at Lybecker Institute of Crafts and Design. The dark Neo-Renaissance sofa set from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries is a real triumph of lathe work. The suite also includes a beautiful tile stove door cover embroidered on felt.

Dining room   

The long table in the dining room could be laid for dinner even for a large group. The dishes were stored in a grand cupboard, which in this case is of the fashionable Neo-Renaissance style. The dining room suite would definitely also include a long sideboard for storing dishes and dining room textiles.

Fredrik Oskar Sovelius

Oskar Sovelius, who died at a very young age, was a great friend of the museum, and without his work the museum's collections might have been forgotten.

Consul Sovelius, or more officially Fredrik Oskar Sovelius, has been somewhat overshadowed by a variety of merchants and shipowners called Sovelius. This lack of recognition is partly due to the fact that he died of a heart attack at the young age of only 41. He suffered from lung disease.  Fredrik Oskar was to succeed his father, the famous commercial counsellor Fredrik Sovelius, as the head of the Trade House of Lang. By the time he took the company over in the early 1890s, our town’s commercial seafaring with international trade connections was already coming to an end. This was not just the fault of the Raahe people. The Saimaa Canal, larger sailing ships with iron hulls, steamboats and railways, among other things, had an adverse effect on our business.

Fredrik Oskar Sovelius was born as the third child of merchant, shipowner Fredrik Sovelius and his wife Johanna Franzén at Salahmi in June 1855. Salahmi Ironwoks was one of the many businesses of Zachris Franzén which, after Franzén’s death, were transferred to Fredrik Sovelius. Fredrik Oskar presumably spent his childhood as a son of a very typical wealthy bourgeois family. Of course, the death of mother Johanna, familiarly called Jenny, as early as 1857 for complications after the birth of her fourth child must have been a great sorrow. Of Jenny’s and Fredrik’s children, only Fredrik Oskar and Georg, a couple of years younger, lived to adulthood; the two older siblings passed away as small children. Commercial counsellor Fredrik Sovelius remarried in 1891 to Ebba Katinka Ljunggren, who was much younger than him.

Fredrik Oskar was called Oskar. The bark Oskar & Georg, built in 1861, was named after the brothers. What is known about Oskar’s schooling is that, after going to school in Raahe, he studied at the Oulu Trivial School at the turn of the 1860s and 1870s. It can be assumed that he spent years of ‘on-the-job training’ in the trade houses owned by his father and uncles in order to take over the multidisciplinary and successful Trade House of Lang. Getting to know foreign trade houses was certainly part of his studies, as it had been with so many other Raahe boys who wanted to become merchants. It could also be imagined that Oskar was also being prepared for the reformer’s mantle because, after all, merchant shipping was fading fast.

Is anything else known about Oskar? Well, something. Olga Sarkkila, the long-time director of the Lybecker Institute of Crafts and Design, says in her memoirs that her brother Seth Sanfrid worked as a signing clerk at the Trade House of Johan Lang. The manager, well respected and liked by Seth, was consul Oskar Sovelius. According to Olga, the consul had a great sense of humour: he might put apples and oranges (rare delicacies at that time) in Seth’s writing desk and then later open the desk lid and pretend to wonder: “What game is Sarkkila playing?” The consul also tolerated joking at his own expense. Allegedly, he used to be very sleepy in the morning, so he asked Seth to come wake him up in the mornings. One morning, Seth went to Oskar and said: “Would the consul get up and sign the invoice of the Business College?” The consul got up, got dressed and asked where the invoice was. Seth replied: “It will come when it is brought”. Oskar Sovelius was a member of the Board of Directors of the Raahe Business College in 1883–1896, which is why invoices were brought to him to be signed.

Oskar’s sense of humour is also evident in descriptions of his future wife’s grandmother. Johanna Malmberg writes to her daughter living in Vaasa: “…Without being excellent, Oskar Sovelius is a funny, big, handsome, not self-important, established and serious young man…”

The museum was actually taken care of entirely by its founder Carl Robert Ehrström. In 1879, the aged district physician proposed to the Town Council of Raahe that his younger colleague, Dr Frans Neovius, take over the museum. That was decided. Obviously, Neovius did not identify with museum work: after Ehrström’s death in 1881, Consul Sovelius, who wanted the job, was appointed to the management of the museum. Did the collections of minerals and birds’ eggs gathered at a young age suggest a budding museum man in Oskar? Oskar Sovelius worked as the museum’s curator for the rest of his life. We owe a great deal of thanks to Oskar Sovelius as, without his contribution, it might well be that Ehrström’s collections would have been forgotten to gather dust in some attic and gradually disappear altogether.

“UUSI SUOMETAR, 5 December 1896

Obituary: Fredrik Oskar Sovelius, Vice Consul of Sweden, Norway and Denmark in Raahe, died of a heart attack on the 2nd of this month. Born in 1854, the deceased was a little over 41 years old at the time of his death. He was a wholesaler throughout his lifetime and became the owner of a trading and shipping company called Johan Lang in 1891. He became a vice consul over a decade ago. He was the chairman of a trading company for some time and a delegate for many years. The deceased, who had recently been sickly, is survived by his widow, née Borg, and four children.”

After Oskar Sovelius, his wife Rosa Sovelius organised the Raahe Museum and ran the Museum Society.

Rosa Johanna Elisabeth Sovelius 

The consul’s wife Rosa Sovelius donated objects to the museum, served on the museum’s board of directors for decades and influenced the life and conditions of our town in many ways during her lifetime.

Rosa was born the first child of the chaplain of Inari. Her father Edward Wilhelm Borg first served as the chaplain of Inari and later as the vicar of Utsjoki. Born in Pyhäjoki, Edward Wilhelm Borg came from a long line of Ostrobothnian clergymen. Rosa’s mother Hilma was from the famous Malmberg family of clergymen. Hilma’s late father Herman Malmberg had worked as the chaplain of Temmes, and the young Edward Borg worked in Liminka as the vicar’s assistant. Somewhere out on the plains, the young people met each other. When they got married, Hilma was 16½ years old and Edvard 25. Shortly after the wedding, the young couple left for the north. In addition to his priestly activities, Edvard Borg was the official vaccinator of Inari and Utsjoki.

After ten years, the Borg clergy family moved to Raahe and Edvard was appointed vicar of Raahe and Saloinen. The growing family settled in the Saloinen Clergy House.

Rosa began her studies in Raahe at the preparatory school of Pastor Toppelius’ daughters Maria and Lydia. She then moved to the finishing school of the learned Gustava Ekström, which was said to be a modern and demanding school. At Ekström’s school, Rosa apparently learned fluent French, as she left for the Aubonne boarding school in Switzerland at the age of 15 for advanced studies.

Upon returning from Switzerland with an international touch in her education and behaviour, Rosa fell in love with the young Fredrik Oskar Sovelius. The happiness of the young people and the planning of the wedding were overshadowed by the death of Rosa’s mother Hilma Borg at the age of 37 during the birth of her 11th child in April 1877. The groom was introduced to Rosa’s relatives at Hilma’s funeral. Hilma’s sister Carolla, who had been living at the Saloinen Clergy House for years and then became Edward Borg’s second wife, described Oskar as follows: “He seemed like a modest and pleasant young man.” Writing to her sister living in Vaasa, Carolla bemoaned the fact that the grief and longing caused by Hilma’s death overshadowed the young couple’s happiness. Johanna Malmberg, the mother of Carolla and Hilma, who also lived at the Saloinen Clergy House, wrote to her daughter living in Vaasa: “Let us hope that Rosa will be happy; they are very fond of each other. The future father-in-law and the commercial counsellor’s wife treat Rosa with the utmost friendship.” The bride’s trousseau and other things needed for the wedding were prepared in a hurry. In the months leading up to the wedding, Carolla reported to her sister in Vaasa: “Every other day, Oskar comes to the clergy house to greet Rosa. During bad weather, he comes riding. Rosa is so sophisticated thanks to her travels but, instead of being arrogant, she is modest and pleasant. They seem to be enjoying themselves so well together, sitting inside with us and going for walks together.”

Since the clergy house was in mourning for Rosa’s mother Hilma, Rosa and Oskar’s wedding could not be held at the bride’s home. The wedding was celebrated at the Raahe Town Hall at the end of July 1877. A total of 400 people were invited to the wedding, as invitations were also sent to foreign business partners of the commercial counsellor.

A total of five sons were born to the family of Rosa and Oskar. The middle son died of diphtheria when he was ten years old. Rosa lost her husband, Oskar, around the age of 40. Rosa, an active woman, managed the various functions and businesses of the Trade House of Lang with skill and success for about five years, until her first child, Bertil, took over the business when he came of age. Rosa was also active in society, especially after the turn of the century. It says something about Rosa’s position among Raahe people that she was generally referred to as the consul’s wife, as her husband was addressed as the consul.

The consul’s wife was involved in at least the following associations, almost always on the board of directors and very often the chair: The Raahe Women’s Association, the Board of the Children’s Home, the Raahe Chapel Association, the Raahe Animal Welfare Association, the Board of the De Gamlas Hem Retirement Home, the Raahe Local Heritage Society, the Board of the Lybecker Institute of Crafts and Design, the Raahe Church Altarpiece Committee, the Raahe Association of the Finnish Alliance and the Board of the Raahe Museum. The Finnish Alliance was the progenitor of the National Coalition Party, and Rosa was the first woman to be elected to the Raahe Town Council! A birthday story in the local newspaper said that the consul’s wife participated with extraordinary enthusiasm or was the originator of all the businesses engaged in religious and national education, cultural promotion and charity in our locality.

Rosa Sovelius worked for the Raahe Museum, first in the Raahe Museum Association and then, after things had become somewhat established, on the Board of the Raahe Museum, which she chaired from 1909 to 1928. The entry on the record of the museum’s board of directors from March 1928 is quite telling:

“Section 1: At the invitation of Dr K. Levón, the Board met for the first time after the death of Consul’s Wife Rosa Sovelius. Deep was the longing of the Board, and the future seemed like an obligation when the museum’s reorganiser, its skilled and respected chairperson of many years, who everyone had learned to trust, was gone.”  To honour the great work of Rosa Sovelius, the Board of Directors of the Raahe Museum commissioned a portrait of her to be painted by the artist Lindeblom.

Jenny Paulaharju published a beautiful obituary of Rosa Sovelius in Kotiliesi in June 1928. Somehow it feels like the best description of Rosa’s character.

“…It is quiet here and just as quiet in the next drawing room, where the hostess used to receive countless visitors and people paying their respects. In a heartfelt way, she sat her guests there in a comfortable corner of the sofa, sat down next to them in the armchair and began chatting so nicely and intelligently, feeling the mood of the visitor, that even the most modest wanderer immediately lost the timidity they may have felt when standing on the front steps behind the white door with the heavy lock and pulling the old hallway bell to announce their arrival. And there have been great numbers of such comers and goers.”

The Paulaharjus became familiar with the consul’s wife, as they enjoyed the hospitality of Rosa’s beautiful home when collecting material for the book Wanha Raahe. Rosa Sovelius was also one of the interviewees of the book and reported to Samuli Paulaharju about the local reception of the book

 

Kitchen

In the kitchen is the large wood-burning stove where the shipowner’s family’s meals were created. For example, there is a waffle pan on the stove, which could be conveniently placed closer to the fire in the opening of the stove rings. The small pan could be used to quickly make some coffee whenever needed.

Initially, for fire safety reasons, the kitchen was in a separate building on the other side of the courtyard. It was referred to as the lower kitchen. From there, the housekeeper or kitchen maid would hurriedly take the meals to the main building for the gentlefolk to enjoy. From the kitchen, there is a narrow corridor to the staircase, the beautiful railing of which dates back to the 1780s, when the house was built. In the hall, a small door next to the front door led to a balcony, which was built on the sea-facing slope of the porch roof ridge. On beautiful summer evenings, sunsets behind Pitkänkari spruce wood could be admired on the balcony.

Meat chopper

Meat chopper Which Was Brought From Baltimore In 1861 On The Bark Oskar & Georg To Facilitate The Cookery Of Some Lucky Woman In Raahe.

Maid's room

The tiny box next to the pantry was the maid’s ‘room’. In fact, it may have been the dwelling of the head housekeeper or other senior member of the service staff, as there was a separate house in the yard for employees. In the 1850s, the wallpaper of the maid’s room had been in the master’s room. When it went out of fashion, it was placed on the walls of the lesser-valued space.

Highchair

A finely decorated highchair for young children. The potty was conveniently hidden under the seat. The mechanism of the high chair is exactly the same as in current versions.