Central Areas

Onnela’s block structure and building stock has been largely preserved in its original state. The area is a significant part of Rauma’s planning history and the expansion of the city’s zoning and settlement in the mid-1800s and 1900s. Onnela’s historical value is enhanced by its location in the vicinity of Old Rauma – the area can be considered part of the historical context of the old town: the way Onnela was built continued the long tradition of Old Rauma.

Residential buildings are intended for multi-family use and are located along streets, often on the corner of a plot as an angled building. In the northern part of the area, the villa-type residential buildings are different from the other houses.

Syväraumankatu is one of Rauma’s most urban spaces. The street is home to monumental apartment buildings from the 1950s to the 21st century. At the northern end of Syväraumankatu and Raumanmerenkatu is an urban landscape of six seven-storey apartment buildings built in the 1960s.

The Sonninhaka area is located about 1.5 km northwest of the city centre, close to the Fåfänga recreation area on the shores of Otanlahti. The area was first developed in the 1940s as a single-family residential area. The Sonnihaka area tells the story of Rauma’s industrial settlement history, especially the workers’ housing built by Ammus Oy, Sytytin Oy and Lönnström. The buildings and urban fabric of the area have largely preserved their original housing and appearance.

The houses in the Sonnihaka area are 1½-storey, board-lined, originally two-family dwellings. Both ends of the house have open porches. The area is characterised by the similarity and seriality of the buildings and the unity and balance of the streetscape. As a series, the houses are more than the sum of their parts.

Less than a kilometre northwest of the city centre. The block was built according to a grid plan in the early 1900s. The block consists of single-storey wooden buildings with uniform facades in all directions.

The construction of the Männistö workers’ housing company was one of the first measures taken in the early 1900s to alleviate the housing shortage of the working population in Rauma. This led to the establishment of the Housing Company Rauha in what is now Männistö and it became the first workers’ housing company in Rauma.

The site tells the story of Rauma’s urban planning and the history of working-class housing. Architecturally, the site is of a high local standard and has largely retained its original appearance.

Hollming Oy built eight two-storey wooden blocks of flats for its employees along Urheilukatu and Saaristokatu in 1946-1949. The houses all face the street. They are gable-roofed and clad in sheet metal. The courtyards are fenced with hedges and netting.

In addition to the wooden blocks of flats, three plastered blocks of flats were also built by Hollming in 1949 along Urheilukatu. Earlier, in 1949, plastered apartment buildings designed by the KK housing department were built by Hakka along the street.

This small apartment block was born out of a housing shortage.

The complex has retained much of its original appearance, both in terms of architectural history and urban design. Historically, the site tells the story of the expansion and construction of Rauma’s inner city in the early 20th century.

The 7-storey houses, representing the modern residential architecture of Rauma, and the related lower 3-storey houses from the 1950s have retained their original appearance. The tall apartment buildings have significant urban value along the Satamakatu.

Pormestarinhaka is a residential area located southeast of the city centre, less than a kilometre from the market square. The buildings are typical post-World War II 1½-storey plastered or boarded detached houses.

The Pormestarinhaka area is linked to Rauma’s period of strong population growth in the 1940s and 1950s.

Kukonkari is close to the city centre, north of Old Rauma. The building stock in the area consists mainly of detached houses from the 1950s, most of which are located with their ends facing the street. In the eastern part of Luostarinkatu there are also terraced houses built in the 1960s. The splashbacks and light brown walls of the detached houses and the cement tile roofs also give the area a uniform appearance. Typical details in the detached houses are metal and wood-framed porches and balconies.

The area has also been called a “church’s village”.

Kukonkari’s detached and terraced houses are of a higher quality than the typical Rauma architecture of their time. The history of the area also tells of the strong growth of the city of Rauma, especially in the 1950s.

Komppi is located less than 3 kilometres west of the market, near the harbour, next to the Kompinlahti marina. There are 16 wooden houses, two types of houses, and one former villa. The type houses are of log construction and are mainly Art Nouveau in style. Individual alterations have been made to the properties over the decades, but they can be identified as a coherent whole.

Albert Richardtson designed the island of Komppi in 1919, both the residential areas and the buildings. The buildings were completed for the workers of a window-glass factory. The glassblowers who lived on the island were international; in addition to the Nordic blowers, there were Germans, Poles and Flemings, among others.

The Komppi area tells the history of Rauma’s industry, the port and its geographical changes, and the early working-class settlement of the city. The fact that Komppi was an island and became a small area surrounded by industry makes the site of exceptional historical value.

Tornelankuja is less than a kilometre east of the market, near the Ankkalammenpuisto park. The five 1960s apartment buildings on the west side of Tornelankuja have mainly slabbed facades, asbestos-cement tile cladding and concrete surfaces. The exception is the tin-roofed house at the corner of Tornelankuja and Steniuksenkatu. The sites are loosely laid out in the landscape according to the functionalist design principles of the 1960s.

On the other side of Tornelankuja are three 1950s terraced houses with plaster and red brick facades. The residential area of Tornelankuja, built in the 1950s and 1960s, has preserved its original urban structure and architecture.

Kanavakatu is located in the city centre along the Kanali. Historically, the area is based on a map drawn up by Harald Andersin in 1922. There, the target area was mainly located in Kärppä block No 13, but also partly in Näätä block No 12.

The historic core of the Kanavakatu area consists of two-storey blocks of flats built in the 1950s, with the addition of new buildings to match the style.

The Holra’s block can be found along the Keskuspuisto park. The block forms a coherent whole, reflecting the functionalist urban centre design of Rauma. The history of Block 225 dates back to the 1896 town plan by G. Idström. It largely gave the block its present shape and alignment.

In 1949, Hollming Oy bought from the city the plots in the block bounded by Valtakatu, Seminaarinkatu and Puistokatu, now called Satamakatu. Holra’s six-storey building was modelled on the adjacent buildings designed by Antero Pernaja in 1949 and built in 1950, the Asunto Oy Holra buildings.