Hvitträsk

Hvitträsk is a mansion complex in Kirkkonummi, Finland, about west of Helsinki. It was designed as a studio home by the members of the Finnish architecture firm Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen, later becoming the private residence of Eliel Saarinen. It is operated as a museum.

Description

The development was started when the plot was purchased by the company in 1901. The construction was mostly completed by 1903. The house was named after Lake, beside which it was built. The name vitträsk literally means 'white lake'. Today Hvitträsk is a museum open to the public. The red-roofed manor structure facing the lake is the main museum building, and the brownish structure separated on the other side by a yard is the cafeteria. There is also a smaller sauna down by the lake.
In 1922 Lindgren's home in the north side partially burned down. Eliel Saarinen's son Eero Saarinen designed a new building in its place in 1929–33.

Featured in publications

Moderne Bauformen 6, no. 4 : 159–62;8, no. 8 : 350, 353.
Hemma och Ute 3, : 210–14; 3 : 234–5.
American Architect and Architectural Review 124 : 19 pls.
Arkkitehti nos. 11–12 : 24.
Architectural Review 139 : 152–54.
Space Design no. 133 : 91–94
Connaissance des Arts no. 238 : 108–13, 192.
New York Times 13 February 1966, VI, p. 64.