Hvitträsk

About this place

Hvitträsk is a manor complex in Kirkkonummi, southern Finland, about 23 km west of Helsinki in a straight line. It was designed as a studio home by the members of the Finnish architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen, later became the private residence of Eliel Saarinen, and is now a museum. The firm bought the plot in 1901, and construction was mostly finished by 1903. It is named after Lake Vitträsk, beside which it was built; the name means «white lake». In 1922 Lindgren's home on the north side partly burned down, and Eliel's son Eero Saarinen designed a new building in its place in 1929–33. The main building, with steep red tiled roofs and walls of natural stone and dark timber, stands on a wooded rise above the lake, parts of it covered in climbing plants. Gardens, lawns and pines surround it, and a yard separates it from the café building. Visitors tour the museum home with its original furniture and interiors, stroll the gardens and go down to the lakeshore, where the small sauna stands. It draws architecture and design lovers and makes a short trip from Helsinki.