LIVING NEXT TO SEMPPALIVING NEXT TO SEMPPA

The history of building G on Seminaarinmäki at the University

of Jyväskylä

Meet the tenants of building G and its history!

Building G on Seminaarinmäki was finished in 1955, and it was the house for the staff of the College of Education. It was designed by Alvar Aalto, and the house is a part of the larger Seminaarinmäki campus, which he was working on in the 1950s.

During 2006, the building was renovated to make working spaces for the Cultural Section of the University Museum. The picture shows the second floor corridor of

the building in April 2006.

The second floor corridor after renovation in October 2006. The building had earlier served as a University guest house.

During the renovation, most changes were made to the ground floor, where the old basement was changed into an artifact study room,

a picture laboratory, and a picture archive.

The artifact study space in October 2006 after the Museum had moved in.

The second floor kitchen in April 2006. The renovation aimed at preserving

the 1950s’ look and the homey character of the room.

The kitchen of the former flat no.4 on the second floor in October 2006. The space is now the break room of the Museum staff. Almost 90 per cent of

the furniture is old repaired pieces.

The renovators also installed some new technology now required by law in the house, e.g. an elevator and mechanical ventilation. The picture shows

how the ventilation machine is put in place. The machine was transported through a second floor window.

Among others, the Museum picture archives and library, all carefully packed, made their way from the Seminarium to building G.

In 1955, the building had rooms for seven families. The parents were working at the College of Education as heaters, janitors, cleaners, or cooks. The picture

shows engineer Väinö Lajunen’s wife Elma in the family’s living room on the first floor at the southern end of the building.

Nowadays, the family’s living room on the first floor is the work space of the Museum senior curator.

The curator started her work in the middle of moving boxes.

A lot of children lived in the house. The area suited families with children, with a large park for a playground right next door. The picture shows the 2nd

birthday party of the Lajunen’s daughter on Oct 16, 1957 in the family’s kitchen.

Nowadays, the Lajunens’ kitchen is the work space of the Museum curator.

Jaana Lajunen and Marketta Pesonen on the steps of building G in 1958.

Jaana Lajunen in front of building G.

Jaana Lajunen and Marketta Pesonen.

The Lajunen’s daughter in the living room. Some families had a telephone.

They could easily call for maintenance if there was a problem with the heating.

Every family had its own recreation space in the yard, and the mothers grew e.g. flowers there. The Lajunen family built themselves a swing.

Jaana Lajunen at the doorstep of building G.

At the northern end of the building, on first floor, was the home of Siiri and Eemeli Saarijärvi (on the left) and family. Siiri and Eemeli Saarijärvi had met in the 1930s while working at the Teacher Training College: Siiri as a kitchen helper and Eemeli as a circular saw worker. The family had five children, some of whom had already

moved out in the 1950s.

Eemeli and Siiri Saarijärvi entertaining guests in the living room.

The family had a living room, a kitchen, a lobby, and a toilet.

Christmas celebrations in Family Saarijärvi in the early 1960s.

Nowadays, the family’s living room is the work space of the Museum Technician.

Siiri Saarijärvi washing the windows of her new home in the early 1960s.

Siiri Saarijärvi and grandchildren on the steps of building G. Siiri had started work at the Training College in 1927 as a kitchen helper. She also worked as

a cleaner, and later worked in the kitchen of the student restaurant Lozzi.

Jaana Lajunen, Saarijärvi grandchildren and Marketta Pesonen.

The family’s daughter, Pirkko, worked in the library of the College of Education and later in the University library.

The Kaskinen family lived on the second floor in the north end of building G during 1959-1970. The father, Edgar Kaskinen, was a heating janitor

at the College of Education. The picture shows the parents and their daughter Taina.

Taina Kaskinen in the family flat. The upper floor flats were smaller than the ones below. The Kaskinens’ flat was 19 m2 in area. Taina Kaskinen reminisces: “We had a longish birch drawer, which had three doors and shelves behind them. Then we had a dinner table and three chairs all made of birch, and a cot where my parents slept. It was kept folded during the day. I slept in a sofa from the Asko shop by the opposite wall. I had a small drawer with

slanted panels of birch, and I kept my belongings there. My mother had a white rocking chair. A mirror and a calendar hung on the walls.”

Christmas in the Kaskinen family in the mid-1960s. The second floor had four families, and their front doors opened to a long corridor with windows. The

corridor had a window by every door, and the mothers kept their house plants on the sills. The cool corridor was a good place for e.g. a cactus.

The wall between the Kaskinen family and the neighbouring flat was torn down in the 2006 renovation.

The larger space is now the project work room at the Museum.

Taina Kaskinen washing the dishes in the kitchen alcove in the 1960s. In addition to one room, the flat had a lobby, a toilet and a closet, which Taina remembers:

“The closet was really impractical, utterly silly. Shaped like a rectangle, narrow, and the shelves were placed at the back opposite the closet door. If you went to get

something from a shelf, you had to brush through all the clothes hanging on a bar on the long wall.”

A view of the yard from the Kaskinen family’s window.

There was a clothes line in the yard. The families did their laundry in the basement laundry room. The yard was next to Seminaarinmäki park and the

Kaltevan kenttä (field), which young people called Semppa.

Taina Kaskinen (on the left) and members of the Pesonen family who lived next door to Family Saarijärvi. If you have more memories or pictures of building G, the University Museum (kampusmuseo@jyu.fi) will be happy to receive them.