Olivia Wivi Lonn

Finnish women began to study and practice architecture earlier than in many other countries. A country with relatively harsh, northern living conditions could not afford an idle class. Whether the wife of a crofter or a lady of the manor, there was always something to do.


Formal architectural education in Finland began in the 1870s; because of their gender, the first female students had to apply for a dispensation to study. Signe Hornborg (received a degree in 1890), was probably the first female architectural graduate in Europe.


Wivi, daughter of a Wilhelm and Mathilda Lonn, was born in Tampere in 1872. She was blond and delicate, quiet and shy; she was more an observer than an active participator (later she didn not belong to any board, nor did not she get any decorations). However, she loved to dress in a fashionably and daring way (she used to arouse astonishment by dressing in a trouser suit while driving a bicycle, which was something extraordinary and definitely inappropriate for a woman in the early 20th century).


Wivi was the fifth woman to graduate in architecture from the Helsinki Polytechnic in 1896. She refused, however, to accept less valuable tasks than her successful male colleagues (such as Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen). She did not take up employment in the national building administration, but chose to establish her own office in Tampere, where she also produced her most significant works.


Drawing and mathematics were Wivis favorite subjects. She focused on rational and practical planning and design. She did not day-dream, but always chose the most economical solution. Compared to the earlier styles, the facades were ascetic and scantily decorated. With materials Wivi strove for authenticity. Thats why she didnt hide the natural stone, wood and masonry work. She also supervised the building sites herself.


Wivi won architectural competitions held for an important primary school, the city fire-station, the Voluntary Fire Brigade building, and the Tampere Commercial College. She was also given commissions for the design of several schools, including the new premises of her old school, the Tampere Girls High School, which was completed in 1902. That was her first major project. Designing of schools (over 30 of them) was actually the area that made Wivi famous. The city fire-station can be regarded as the leading achievement of her career. This building, partly clad with natural stone and still in original use, was completed in 1908.


Wivi had a longtime collaboration with her old friend and colleague Armas Lindgren. Together they won two highly significant architectural competitions, for the Helsinki Students Union building (1907-1908) and for the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn, Estonia (1908-1909). Alongside these projects, Wivi carried on her own practice, preparing, among other works, her design for the Tampere Voluntary Fire Brigade Building in 1908, and a project for a high school in Mikkeli in 1909.


Wivi was named to professor at the age of 80. All in all she designed over 60 buildings, 12 villas, 30 renovations and 18 house for personal use. Her popularity (both in Finland and other countries) was based on her good professional ability and economical solutions. Finnish architectural history has, however, largely placed this gifted architect in the shadow of her male colleagues. For many years, the Helsinki Students Union building and the Estonia Theatre in Tallinn, planned and designed jointly by Lonn and Armas Lindgren, were attributed solely to the latter.


Today women architects are an everyday phenomenon in Finland. They work as designers, planners, administrators and educators. Some run practices under their own name, many in partnership with their architect husbands. Those who have specialized in planning, work in governmental and municipal organizations, where some have attained high administrative positions.


WAU Finland