History of the Klondyketalo

Klondyketalo is a historic former industrial building in Savio, a little way from Kerava toward Helsinki. Finland's first cement factory stood on this site from 1869 onward. The first parts of the current building were completed in 1913, built on the site of the cement factory for Oy Nahkimo Ab, a company that made footwear for the First World War.

Klondyketalo is a historic former industrial building in Savio, a little way from Kerava toward Helsinki. Finland's first cement factory stood on this site from 1869 onward.

The first parts of the current building were completed in 1913, built on the site of the cement factory for Oy Nahkimo Ab, a company that made footwear for the First World War.

The factory buildings passed to Savion Gummitehdas Oy in 1927. The building was expanded repeatedly from the 1920s through the 1950s, extending in several directions, so that the factory's oldest sections ended up enclosed within newer wings. It operated as a rubber factory until 1985, owned in its later years by Nokia, the former Suomen Gummitehdas.

In 1985 the property passed from Nokia to the real estate investment company Keravan Future Center Oy, which began developing the building's operations. Under a renovation plan by architects Hannu Kiiskilä and Harri Hagan, the interior was transformed into a leisure centre while the exterior kept its understated character. By the 1990s the building was home to Keravan kauppaoppilaitos (Kerava's business college), the Prison Service Training Centre, and, from December 1990, the Kerava Art Museum. In February 1991 the indoor amusement park Fanfaari opened, later renamed Planet FunFun.

TIMELINE

1913 to 1927, footwear was made here for the war effort
1927 to 1985, the building operated as a rubber factory
1990 to 2012, home to the Kerava Art Museum
1990 to 1994, the indoor amusement park Fanfaari, later Planet FunFun
Since the mid 1990s, Klondyke House has provided studio space for visual artists.

Today Klondyke is home to a broad mix of around 160 companies across many fields, the largest of which include Ammattiopisto Careeria, Artistiasu, Kentonec, Savion Eläinklinikka, and the breweries Etko and Salama.