Introduction Estonia
Elina Amann, last edited 11.10.2022
The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic came into being in 1940, when in the summer of that year the Soviet army occupied the independent republic bordering the Baltic Sea. After a brief occupation by German soldiers between 1941 and 1944, the republic was once again annexed by the Soviet Union.
Three republics, the Estonian SSR, the Lithuanian SSR and the Latvian SSR, were collectively known as the Soviet Baltics. This region, the “Soviet West,” was more developed economically and culturally than most of the other republics. Due to its European identity, the population of the Baltic republics was generally antagonistic towards the Soviet Union and its ideology. To mitigate popular discontent, the central government had to agree to a series of special arrangments in the Baltic republics. Among them was a greater role of the private sector, particularly in agriculture, and deviations from architectural and construction norms.
Whereas in the immediate the aftermath of the Second World War, construction and reconstruction in Estonia was conducted by existing construction companies in the functionalist or in the traditional style, during the Cold War period, Estonian architecture developed within the framework of Soviet modernism. The dissemination of modernism was enabled by the opening of the Department of Architecture within the National Art Institute of the Estonian SSR in 1951, which was seen as intellectually loyal to Moscow.
The Republican Council of the Estonian SSR Collective Construction Organizations (Eesti Kolhoosiehitus) was founded in 1962, responsible for the construction of agricultural structures and housing in rural areas. At that time, rural Estonia enjoyed an exceptionally high (for the Soviet Union) level of prosperity, and Eesti Kolhoosiehitus quickly grew into a large organization that employed up to twenty thousand people in the 1970s. The organization possessed both financial resources and a great degree of independence, and many experimental and unorthodox projects were designed under its auspices.
The 1970s saw an intensification of the anti-Soviet and nationalist movement. In architecture, it led to the search for a national form and to the exploration of the cultural affinity with Scandinavian countries. The resultant “Finnish-organic” style of architecture was particularly prominent in the architecture for rural areas and vacation houses, such as the “Flower Pavilion” by the Estonian architect Valve Pormeister (1960), aptly integrated into the landscape.
Imposing buildings for administration, culture, and recreation were designed and built in Estonia during the 1970s and the 1980s. Among them are the Holiday home of the New Press Agency APN (today hotel Strand) in Pärnu by Meeli Truu and the Council of Ministers’ Recreation Area in Narva-Jõesuu by Marika Lõoke.
In 1991, Estonia, along with its neighbouring other Baltic countries, gained independence from the Soviet Union. The architecture of independent Estonia continued to explore its national and regional (north-eastern European) identity. The introduction of market economy led to a boom in construction, particularly of residential buildings. Some of Soviet Estonian architects, such as Marika Lõoke, who turned to housing, were able to continue their work under the new conditions.
Sources
Jörg Hackmann, “Architektur als Symbol. Nation building in Nordosteuropa. Estland und Lettland im 20. Jahrhundert,” Riga im Prozeß der Modernisierung : Studien zum Wandel einer Ostseemetropole im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert. Hrsg. von Eduard Mühle und Norbert Angermann. Marburg: Verlag Herder-Institut
2004, 149-172. Available online: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjhpdXd_O75AhUSXvEDHTiXC84QFnoECAYQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.joerghackmann.eu%2FJoerg_Hackmann%2Fdocuments_files%2Friga_2004.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3_gJr-nvCisJ_Bz0XLU0_8
https://historyrussia.org/sobytiya/sovetskaya-pribaltika-imidzh-i-realnost-2.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estonian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic
https://www.hisour.com/de/architecture-of-estonia-31692/
Klaus Ronneberger and Georg Schöllhammer, “Lokalisierter Modernismus: Der Sonderweg der estnischen Architektur in der Sowjet-Ära,” Zeitung Geschichte (Issue and Date unknown): 1-5. Available online:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjhpdXd_O75AhUSXvEDHTiXC84QFnoECA0QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Farchplus.net%2Fdownload%2Fartikel%2F3513%2F&usg=AOvVaw32GumC6de1dl84XwNHiD0W
