a blog by Peter Leonard
This cover is from a 1904 polemic by two Finnish architects, Gustaf Strengell and Sigurd Frosterus, who wrote it to express their opposition to Eliel Saarinen's design for Helsinki's Central Station.
Architecture: A Polemic to our Adversaries Dedicated
Although the pamphlet signaled a turning-point in Finnish architecture (away from National Romanticism and towards Modernism), the cover is a terrific piece of design in its own right. It was on display at the Museum of Finnish Architecture in Helsinki, as part of the exhibition Architecture 1900: Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, St. Petersburg. I was in all of those cities this summer except Riga, and two examples of Art Nouveau from Estonia and Russia are here:
