Presidential Palace
Governmental
Kruununhaka, Helsinki, Finland
1816/1843
1820/1845
Pehr Granstedt (1816)
Carl Ludvig Engel (1843)
Origins and early history[edit]
At the beginning of the 19th century, a salt storehouse stood on the site. Johan Henrik Heidenstrauch, then one of the elite of Helsinki's merchants, purchased the entire lot and erected between 1816 and 1820 a stately residence designed by architect Pehr Granstedt.[1][2] The Heidenstrauch House resembled a palace more than a merchant's house. In 1837 it actually became a palace when it was purchased for the price of 170 000 rubles to be converted into a residence for the Governor-General of Finland. However, Nicholas I desired that it should become the official residence in Helsinki of the Emperor of Russia, the Grand Duke of Finland, and so the building became the Imperial Palace in Helsinki.[3]
The necessary rebuilding and furnishing work, carried out between 1843 and 1845, was directed by architect Carl Ludvig Engel, the creator of neoclassical Helsinki and, after his death, by his son, Carl Alexander. Giacomo Quarenghi also looked over the plans.[4] All the timber storehouses behind were torn down and a new wing added. This wing, built along the north of the courtyard, contained on the second floor the chapel (the present library), ballroom, banquet hall in direct connection with the earlier reception floor of the main building, as well as a kitchen.[1][5]