What Does Tallinn's Old Town's Newest Old House Look Like

A late Gothic-facade residential building located at Suur-Karja Street 12 in Tallinn's Old Town has received a completely new modern interior during its renovation and opens today with an international contemporary art pop-up exhibition "Sensual Expression".

According to Ingmar Saksing, chairman of the board of LVM Kinnisvara, one can truly say that the building at Suur-Karja 12 is Tallinn's Old Town's newest old building. The building, which had been in poor condition for years and awaiting reconstruction, had to be completely gutted from the inside and rebuilt from scratch together with an extension, in order to meet the expectations placed on modern residential buildings, according to him. "However, for a person wishing to live in the Old Town, this is a rare opportunity where a completely modern interior with all contemporary technical possibilities is combined with a historic location and courtyard," he explained.

According to Saksing, custom solutions created according to the vision of top Estonian interior architect Aet Piel have thoroughly transformed the 1,618 square meter net floor area building with 16 apartments: "A medieval wealthy city dweller's apartment building is now a spacious and logical living environment." During construction, the building received all new engineering solutions, soundproof windows, apartment-based heat recovery ventilation and heated water floors. As a completely new solution, an elevator has also been installed in the building.

From the original late medieval Suur-Karja 12 building complex, only the street-facing facade remained after the March 1944 bombing, which was rebuilt in the 1950s. The building's history, however, stretches back to Tallinn's golden age – the 15th century, when Tallinn had risen to become the leading city of the Hanseatic League's eastern trade. Throughout the ages, the Suur-Karja 12 property has had various different owners. From 1803, it belonged together with the buildings at Suur-Karja 14 and 16 to the Luther family, whose furniture shop was located at the corner of Vana-Posti Street. Before World War II, the building housed Samuel Besproswanie's textile factory and shop.

A photo gallery of the exterior and interior views of the Suur-Karja 12 building has been added to the announcement (photos: LVM).