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Helsinki's belle époque
Kruununhaka district

Kruununhaka district, 1907. This is where the Helsinki we know now was born.

"The pulse of life and action beats as strongly in it as it does across the Atlantic. Helsingfors is, in fact, in many ways more American than European."

"Every morning up to noon the market-place is crowded with small stalls, in which diverse articles, mainly foodstuffs, are sold. The whole domestic life of the common people is illustrated here, and a most interesting hour can be spent among the booths, studying the quaint habits, and costumes, and fare of the people, and picking up some souvenirs. Many of the merchants are peasants, who 		have driven or sailed to town to sell their garden and dairy produce, or the fish they have caught. In England we see practically nothing of this direct relation between producers and consumer."

"The Esplanade is as wide as the marketplace itself - it is, in fact, more of a park than of a street. A broad expanse of trees and garden and lawn, with promenades, separates the houses on the "Norra" and the "Södra" sides right along its whole length."

Siltasaari

Siltasaari working class district in 1907.