The Look of Leisure: History Seaside Villas of the Northern Baltic (ed. Laura Berger, ICOMOS Finnish National Committee & The Finnish Architecture Society, 2021) explores the historical holiday area of the late 19th century.
Summer villas became a special phenomenon on the Karelian Isthmus during the 1870s, when the railway created a new connection between the grand Duchy of Finland and St. Petersburg, the capital of Imperial Russia. The coastal stretch of the Isthmus north-west of St. Petersburg developed into a meeting point between two cultures, as thousands of summer vacationers found the area. Still in the present day, this ‘Northern Riviera’ holds an aura of a glorious ‘Paradise Lost’ of endless summer days and long beaches, populated with beautiful villas and picturesque villages. Above all, the area of Terijoki, today Zelenogorsk, came to epitomize this phenomenon.
This publication, a joint venture of Finnish and Russian authors, explores the rich history of wooden coastal villas. Architecturally these buildings allowed great freedom in design, and came to symbolise summer time leisure. A range of essays introduce perspectives on history, the stylistic exchanges and variations as well as documenting and restoration of the villas. In addition to history, the work at hand offers insights to the contemporary question concerning the future of this shared heritage.
– The Look of Leisure: History Seaside Villas of the Northern Baltic, book description on the back cover
The text is in English. The book is lavishly illustrated with previously mostly unpublished archive material such as photographs, architectural drawings, maps, advertisements, newspaper clippings, letters and such.
We are proud to carry this title in our catalogue for the Finnish Architecture Society and the ICOMOS Finnish National Committee.
