Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall

The Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall is the first and oldest public indoor swimming hall in Finland. It was inaugurated on 4 June 1928, and it took a long time until a second swimming hall was opened in Finland. The hall is located in the Kamppi area of Helsinki at Yrjönkatu 21b, and is owned by the city of Helsinki.[1]

The entrance to the swimming hall.

The hall building was designed by architect Väinö Vähäkallio and represents the Nordic Classicism style. It was inspired by the Centralbadet swimming hall in Stockholm. The hall was originally privately owned, but was transferred to the Finnish Sports Federation in 1954 and to the city of Helsinki in 1967.[2] The hall was renovated from 1997 to 1999.[1]

The Yrjönkatu Swimming Hall's first floor contains a 25 × 10 metre pool, two saunas and dressing closets at the edges of the pool. The second floor contains resting cabins, saunas and a café. The hall sells two kinds of tickets, providing access either to the first floor only or to both floors. Traditionally, people swam naked in the pool, but since 2001, the wearing of a swimsuit has been permitted. Men and women have separate days for swimming.[1] In March 2012, the hall reported it was switching its original 1928 wooden sauna stove to a new one to cut down on the smoke damages to the Forum building. The new wooden sauna stove became operational in August 2013. It is 2.8 metres high and is thought to be one of the largest wooden sauna stoves in Finland.[3]

References
  1. Yrjönkadun uimahalli Archived 2011-09-26 at the Wayback Machine at the Helsinki city sports bureau. Accessed on 23 August 2008.
  2. Uimahallissa on ikuinen kesä (PDF), page 74. Käy sisään! Julkiset sisätilat, 2007, Rakennusperinto.fi. Accessed on 23 August 2008.
  3. Uusi puukiuas Suomen suurimpia. Metro Finland 29 August 2013, 15th year, issue #157, p. 7. Helsinki: Sanoma Magazines Finland. www.metro.fi (PDF). Accessed on 29 August 2013.

Further reading
  • Aro, Toivo: Helsingfors simhall. Arkitekten issue 4/1929, pp. 52-55. Helsingfors: Finlands arkitektförbund. (In Swedish)
  • Biström, Anna et al., ed.: Riisuttu tapaaminen: Yrjönkadun uimahalli (by Susanne Rignell), Naisten Helsinki: kulttuurihistoriallinen opas. Helsinki, Schildts, 2010. ISBN 978-951-50-1994-3. (In Finnish)
  • Jutila, Helena: Yrjönkadun roomalainen kylpylä. Muoto, 1999, 19th year, issue #3-4, p. 58. (In Finnish)

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