We had supper in the Portrait Restaurant after going to the National Gallery’s wonderful Zurburán exhibition.  I had no idea that the Portrait Restaurant is now open in the evenings, which must be one of London’s best kept secrets. 

It’s as beautiful as ever – such an amazing view down Whitehall and, at least from where I was sitting, almost no tower blocks.

Just Nelson:-

Following my aunt’s funeral, I have been sent some family photographs, always helpful in getting a sense of my mother’s family, how she was brought up – still fairly Edwardian; who they were; the family’s relationships.

My mother is on the left, her older sister, Mary, on the right:-

Here they are with my grandmother and their younger brother, John:-

Here is my uncle John as a youth. He was head boy:-

This is of my grandfather with his second wife, Ethel Moore, who was a Boston philanthropist.  I have never seen a photograph of her before.  She died shortly after their wedding:-

The next one is intriguing. Following my grandmother’s death in Anglesey (I have never managed to locate her grave), my aunt Mary looked after my grandfather. Here they are on the way to church:-

And here’s the next generation, including me, at an occasion which, not surprisingly, I don’t remember:-

Some good street detailing:-

And graphics:-

We headed out into the deep suburbs to see the housing schemes originally developed for the planned 1940s Olympics:-

And a later phase added in the late 1940s for tye 1952 Olympics.

We particularly admired the local allotments:-

And the wooden houses fron the 1920s  in Puu-Käpylä:-

Yesterday afternoon, we went to the Kulttuurisauna in Merihaka for Otto’s talk on ‘Holidays in Scandinavia: Post-War British Architects and Nordic Exchange’.

It was a charming, small, slightly rustic pavilion which holds a series of architectural talks:-

Thanks to Markus Lähteenmãki, we were able to visit the National Pensions Institute, one of Aalto’s several major post-war projects for the Welfare State.

The front façade is a touch dour:-

Less dour at the back:-

Inside, characteristically good quality detailing, including the lights:-

It was a working bureaucracy:-

With a fine library:-

Then, we went to a beautiful 1970s library, designed by Aarne Ervi, who had worked for Aalto:-

And had lunch in the restaurant in the Lasipalatsi, a perfectly preserved 1930s interior, recently renovated.  Very good reindeer:-

We went on a grand (self-guided) walking tour of Central Helsinki, beginning with the amazing (relatively) new public library where you can work at sewing machines and borrow an electric guitar:-

Next, we went to Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art, designed by Steven Holl and opened in 1998 – surprisingly long ago:-

There is good strong detailing on the nineteenth-century buildings:-

A fine late nineteenth-century building on Kasamitori which doesn’t appear in the architectural guide:-

And an apartment building opposite designed by Herman Gesellius, Arnas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen which does:-

Down to the docks and the old market hall (1889):-

On the other side of the harbour are Aalto’s Enzo-Gutzheit office block (1959-62) and the Uspenski Orthodox Cathedral:-

East and south of the cathedral are good art nouveau and classical blocks with excellent stone detailing:-

We admired the old Custom House (1902):-

Then back into the neoclassical city:-

We ended with a cup of tea in the Cathedral Square:-

We went on a day trip to Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium, which made his reputation internationally: designed in 1928 and 1929 by Alvar and Aino Aalto; an unexpectedly large sanatorium for 286 tuberculosis patients, who were only cured by an extensive period of rest.

The sanatorium is surrounded by forest.  It is designed in the latest, Modernist style, a factory of rest and well-being: dust-free, everything designed for its therapeutic character, including the choice of wall colours, done in consultation with a decorative painter, Aino Kauria:-

Good details:-

We went to the Seurasaari Open-air museum, on an island just north of Helsinki.  It was established in 1909 to preserve aspects of Finnish rural life, including, at its heart a large wooden farmstead:-

There is a fine rustic church, dated 1685 and moved to Seurasaari in 1912:-

A manor house, with more sophisticated interiors:-

And a house from Karelia:-

An obituary of my aunt has appeared in today’s Times, if you have a subscription.

It is an unvarnished description of her character.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/022082fd-f0f9-4ab7-a3c6-daf3844e6f2d?shareToken=2ef84a9b7cb4cb9a1b1efa0f45b079fe