Former bank hall of the Union Bank of Finland at Aleksanterinkatu 36 | |
The Union Bank of Finland built its first own head office building at Aleksanterinkatu 36 between 1896 and 1898. The building was designed by Gustaf Nyström. The decorative painting on the building can be seen to pull away from the rich world of form and colour of the Neo-Renaissance. The decorative etchings on the bank hall ceiling are still stylistically heavy and full of small details. Instead, the plant motifs that line the cupola in the entrance hall differ in their clarity and abstracted simplicity from the previous works of the S. Wuorio Painting Company. The bank building was leased out in 1936, but it was again taken into use by the bank after the restoration that was completed in 1979. In connection with the restoration, the marbling on the walls and the decorative paintings on the ceilings were restored to resemble the original painted surfaces that were discovered under the layers of paint that had been painted over them. The glass ceiling had also suffered with time and was in need of repairs The building on the map |