- Collections
- Conference rooms
- Lotta Svärd
- The Syväranta estate
- The Lotta Svärd Foundation
The history of the Syväranta estate goes back to the year 1869 when Birger Lundahl acquired a waterfront site from Alexander Magnus de la Garde that the latter called by the name Syväranta. De la Garde was also the owner of the Gustavelund estate next to Tuusula's church. Lundahl built the Syväranta estate on the land he had purchased, and in 1876 sold it on to senator Viktor von Haartman. Ownership of the estate changed hands frequently. It was only three years later that Captain of the Guard Gotthard Björklund acquired it. The Björklunds resided in St. Petersburg and rented out the estate. Their tenants included, among others, dowager Lovisa Abt, merchant Isak Unovius and apothecary and bank manager Clas Robert Lilius.
The old Syväranta main building as it was during the time of Lottas, 1937-1947.
In 1904 the estate was sold to titular counsellor Konstantin Kapitanowitsch Uschkoff and his wife Theresa Walentinova. The time of the Uschkoffs really marked the golden era of the Syväranta estate. Konstantin Uschkoff was reportedly the second richest man of Moscow, and generous amounts of money were spent on the renovation of the
estate and its garden. You can still find traces of this golden Uschkoff era at the Syväranta garden. Konstantin and Theresa acquired some ten marble statues to embellish the garden – one of these still remains there, a female figure entitled "Josefina". At the end of the estate's old alley you will also find a cobweb-style gate – it is said to have included two golden spiders adorned with rubies during the Uschkoff era. A fountain was also built in the garden, aisles were decorated with plants and ducks, geese and peacocks were acquired.
Music played a major part in the life of the Uschkoffs. Konstantin's second wife Theresa was a pianist and three grand pianos were acquired to Syväranta for her to play. The titular counsellor's son-in-law was the famous orchestral conductor Sergei Koussevitzky. Theresa's sister, on the other hand, was married to the world-famous bass singer Chaliapin. Both of them were frequent visitors at Syväranta.
After the demise of Konstantin, Theresa Uschkoff moved to the Uschkoff family estate in Switzerland and sold Syväranta to Carl Herman Hansen, a Danish doctor, in 1916. As far as is known, the golden spiders at the gate left the estate along with Mrs Uschkoff.
The Hansen family soon wished to return back to Denmark, however, and the estate was sold to the Finnish Onni W. Tuisku Foundation, which founded a "rest home for Finnish newspapermen" there. During the rest home's first summers, its visitors included, among others, W.W. Tuomioja, (the editor-in-chief of newspaper Helsingin Sanomat) along
with his family, Einar Böök and Yrjö Niiniluoto.
In summer 1923 summer guests of the rest home played in
"Treasure
Hunters", a play by Katri Ingman.
Besides newspapermen, many writers were boarders at the Syväranta estate. Regular guests included Eino Leino, Uuno Kailas, Olavi Paavolainen and Einari Vuorela.
Lotta college course participants at the Uschkoff spider gate.
Maintaining the rest house was unprofitable and so the Onni W. Tuisku's Foundation sold the estate to the Lotta Svärd organization in 1936. The need for Lotta training had increased significantly in the 1930s, and the organization decided to establish a Lotta College in Syväranta that held its doors open until 1944. As the organization was
disbanded, Syväranta was donated to the Support Foundation of Finnish
Women (later known as the Lotta Svärd Foundation).
The main building of Syväranta was destroyed in a fire in 1947. An ironing board had been left to heat up, and this started the fire. The new Lotta Museum, designed by Irmeli and Markus Visanti to resemble the original villa and built by the Support Foundation of Finnish Women, was completed in 1995.
Syväranta estate owners:
Alexander de la Garde
Birger Lundahl
Viktor von Haartman
Gotthard Björklund
Konstantin Uschkoff
Carl Herman Hansen
Onni W. Tuisku Foundation
Lotta Svärd organization
The Support Foundation of Finnish Women (later the Lotta Svärd Foundation)
SOURCE: Holma, Sirkka 1990: Tuusulan Rantatie Pekka Halosen aikaan