In the Early Years of the Republic, 4 Houses Were Built in Tallinn and Today's Popular Neighborhoods Were Villages

During the early years of the Republic, 4 houses were built in Tallinn and today's popular neighborhoods were villages

On the eve of Estonian Republic's birthday, it's nice to take a look back in time. Let's glance at today's popular neighborhoods and see what the picture was like 104 years ago. Housing developer Bonava selected 3 of its larger neighborhoods and it turns out that at the time of becoming a republic, these were all areas located outside Tallinn.

Uus-Mustamäe

Uus-Mustamäe homes are located in Mustamäe, on the former Kadaka orchard grounds. Over seven years, Bonava will complete a total of 750 new homes and a park there. At the time of the Estonian state's founding, it was a village. The oldest written sources about Kadaka village date from 1686. During the War of Independence, the area had about twenty farms. In 1949, a kolkhoz was formed from the farms of Kadaka village, which was later merged with the Järve kolkhoz. The eastern part of the village was annexed to Tallinn in 1958, while the western part only in 1975. Thus, Kadaka district has been part of Tallinn for only about half a century. You can get acquainted with tasteful Uus-Mustamäe homes here.

Pärnaõue homes

Pärnaõue is Bonava's largest neighborhood to date, a new and family-friendly living environment in Haabersti, next to Rocca al Mare. The homes are located in Pikaliiva district, which was named after Pikaliiva village, which belonged to Haabersti manor. The village was formed slightly before the creation of the Estonian Republic, in the early 20th century, and its name was influenced by the surrounding long sandy ridge. Most of Pikaliiva area was annexed to Tallinn in 1960, with the rest following later.

Today this neighborhood is home to more than 1500 people. In total, Bonava is building 51 houses in Pärnaõue, and it is one of the largest private capital-based residential development projects of the past decade. You can get acquainted with family-friendly Pärnaõue homes here.

Järveotsa homes

Bonava's Järveotsa homes are located in Haabersti, in Astangu district. In total, it is planned to build five houses and the area is expected to see many new residents in the coming years.

The name Astangu refers to the landscape of the district, which is rising, and the name was adopted only in 1984. The oldest written records about the current Astangu district area date from 1561.

At the time when the Estonian Republic was created, it was an area of farms where military installations had also begun to be constructed. Namely, construction of the ammunition depots of the Peter the Great Sea Fortress began in the Astangu area in 1915, but the construction work was interrupted following the collapse of the Tsarist regime. Interestingly, Astangu was one of the first areas where electricity reached the farms.

Today, Astangu's population is relatively young in composition: in 2016, those aged 0–17 made up 18–22% of the district's population. You can get acquainted with rapidly developing Järveotsa homes here.

What has happened in 104 years?

Tallinn's population has multiplied many times over compared to the time of the Estonian Republic's founding. In the 1920s, approximately 108,000 people lived in Tallinn, today there are 444,500. The territory has also grown significantly. Over a hundred years, growth has been from 7 hectares to nearly 16,000 hectares.

While in the early years of the republic, Tallinn's most populated area was Tõnismäe-Kassisaba with its 21,000 residents, today it would be one of Tallinn's smallest neighborhoods; today only Pirita has slightly fewer than 20,000 residents. Surprisingly, a hundred years ago, Lasnamäe was Tallinn's smallest area with 5,200 residents, today Lasnamäe is the capital's largest city district, where 117,000 people live.

How has house construction developed? In the first two years of the Estonian Republic, only 4 houses were built in Tallinn, which had a total of 15 apartments. The apartments were small, with a total of 22 rooms in them.