Aalto-designed homes sell for a few thousand euros in Lieksa

Alvar Aalto-designed homes can be bought for a few thousand euros in Lieksa, Yle reports. The houses stand along Mätäskuja in Mätäsvaara, a former mining village where Aalto’s architecture from the 1930s and 1940s is still visible.

Markku Miettinen bought one of the houses about four years ago after hearing from an elderly resident that a home in Mätäsvaara was for sale cheaply.

More than 20 prefabricated houses designed by Aalto were completed in Mätäsvaara in 1940 to provide homes for workers at a new molybdenum mine. The houses had electricity, indoor toilets and central heating, which Miettinen said were considered luxuries in Lieksa in the 1940s.

Three architects designed buildings for the mining area. In addition to Aalto’s detached houses, Mätäsvaara has buildings designed by Thure Hellström and Bertel Liljeqvist.

The mine operated until 1947, after which the company sold the houses to their residents. Slightly more than 100 people now live in the area.

Milla Öystilä and her husband, Aki Nevalainen, are renovating one of the houses next to Öystilä’s yellow-painted childhood family home. Öystilä’s mother was born in a back room of that house.

“The Alvar Aalto route is a great opportunity to discover Aalto’s architecture,” Öystilä said. Lieksa has joined the cultural tourism route, which connects locations designed by Aalto’s architectural office across Europe. The route includes sites in Finland, Iceland, Italy, France, Germany and Estonia.

Aalto’s architecture was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List this year, although the Mätäsvaara houses are not included. Interest in the buildings has continued over the years.

The Aalto-designed houses also connect residents in the neighbourhood, where people know one another and share responsibility for storage buildings between the plots, Miettinen said.

Lieksa is about 30 kilometres from Mätäsvaara, while the drive from Joensuu takes just under two hours. Empty houses in the area are privately owned. One of the Aalto houses was recently offered for 3,000 euros.

“I encourage people to put houses they no longer need up for sale. For someone else, one could be an enjoyable project, while the neighbourhood would remain maintained,” Miettinen said.

Aalto also designed prefabricated houses in Varkaus, where a house factory was established to produce them. The homes, built in the 1940s, are still in good condition and remain occupied in the Könönpelto and Savonmäki districts.