Åland Post celebrates 100-year-old Sailing pavilion with stamp
On 25 March, Åland Post pays tribute to the ÅSS pavilion, a popular and acclaimed architectural gem in Mariehamn. Artist Carolina Sundelin took on the challenge to capture the special design of the house. “I’d never really noticed the house before. It’s an interesting building and it was fun to discover that the architecture is reminiscent of an Asian building ”, Carolina says.
Designed by Lars Sonck (1870–1956), the ÅSS pavilion is an example of his National Romantic style with influences from Karelia. The log house in ginger- bread style was built 1895–99 on a cliff above the harbour as summer villa
for Karl Hällberg, a doctor at the spa resort in Mariehamn. After his death, the eagle’s nest, as the house was nicknamed, was bought by the Åland Yacht Club (ÅSS) to be used as clubhouse. In 1922, the building was moved to its current location on the shoreline in the Western harbour, where it serves as a popular summer restaurant today.
Artist Carolina Sundelin took inspiration from photographs of the pavilion from the 1920s when she designed the stamp original in water colour. She also devoted time to personally investigate the nooks and crannies of the building:
“Since focus was to be on the house, I removed advertising images, flagpole and terrace. The many tiny windows on the building and the dragon details proved to be a challenge. Also, the house stands beneath the cliffs with a great number of pine trees in the background, so, the house doesn’t emerge very well. Of the two designs I made, I preferred the one without the cliffs and trees, which also became the one used for the stamp”.
The stamp shows the ÅSS pavilion, a popular and acclaimed architectural gem in Mariehamn. Designed by Lars Sonck (1870–1956), the ÅSS pavilion was built 1895–99 on a cliff above the western harbour of Mariehamn. Lars Sonck was one of Finland’s most high-profile architects in the early 1900s. In 1922, the pavilion was moved to its current location on the shoreline in the Western harbour, where it serves as clubhouse for the Åland Yacht Club (ÅSS) and is a popular summer restaurant.
