Tallinn Photo Thread By Tin_Can

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by ABC LV

Did it looked different before it was destroyed in air raid or soviet regime reconstructed opera in its original look?

If I remember my history lessons correctly,during 1944 air raid it got two direct hits with incendiary bombs and only exterior walls were left standing. After war opera's exterior was rebuilt bit larger than original and with more details,but overall it should be more or less the same. Interior was entirely rebuilt according to Soviet taste in late 1940s.

[Tin_Can]

Now,let's continue with more "dark & depressing" buildings...

329 Tõnismägi. Residential area located on a small hill in southern downtown. Hill itself (+36 meters from sea level) is barely visible,due to area building density.


330 Building on Hariduse Street.


331 Most dominant building in the area is Tõnismäe water tower. It was built in 1882,to maintain water pressure in growing city.


332 View from Veetorni street.


333 Right next to water tower is Latvian Embassy. Originally residential building built in 1888 and rebuilt 1930.


334 Residential building from 1882.


335 Prisons Service department car. No big suprise of seeing it here,as Ministry Of Justice located in nearby building.

[Tin_Can]

336 Estonian National Library (built 1985-1993) Architect Raine Karp (was also architect of Linnahall) I have to say,building does hide it's size quite well 6 ground + 2 underground floors,pyramid shaped building. Also note the light orange building on far right corner - it's KAPO headquarters (Estonian mixture of FBI & CIA)


337 Library's side view.


338 Looking the other way - buildings on Veetorni street.


339 Residential building on Veetorni street.

[Jarmo K]

the 2nd photo of the library is magnificent!

[Tin_Can]

Photos from a Tuvi / Pigeon's park behind the National Library.

340 Library's backside.


341 I did not find any information about this house,but by the looks of it,it's a residential building from late 1800s.


342 Few views from the park...


343


344 Looking down towards Suur-Ameerika street. Ministry Of Finance highrise is clearly visible from here,also notice the radio mast there. During Soviet era it was one of three so-called "Three Sisters" radio & TV signal jamming masts (those capitalist pigs propaganda - Finnish TV & Voice Of America ) Needless to say,they failed miserably - even people living right next to those masts were able to hear and see info from western world Other two masts,once standing right next to this one,have been demolished and this one is used as mobile phone network mast.


345 Fixing my previous mistake - this is ze German Embassy!


346 One more photo of it.


347 Standing on one of National Library's stairs and looking towards the park. Library wall on the left and German Embassy visible on the right side.

[Mario13th]

There are cool embassy buildings near Hirve Park also.

[ssh]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

78 Apartment buildings in Ilmarise quarter.

One of the most beautiful projects in Tallinn imho. Simple, elegant and has a very nordic look, with nice colours and contrasting black roofs. Suits the seaside perfectly. It's a nice thing to look at from that terrible grey Linnahall.

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

9 View towards SEB building.

A very nice looking picture, Tallinn looks like a truly modern city. Shame the place itself has become an urban desert with town centre shifting towards Viru/Solaris.

[Jarmo K]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

341 I did not find any information about this house,but by the looks of it,it's a residential building from late 1800s.

i found this: http://register.muinas.ee/?menuID=mo...n=view&id=8841 - lovely building! also, the german embassy is rrrreally cool! i'm sure 99,5% of all tallinners have never seen it or don't even know it exists

[Jarmo K]

Originally Posted by ssh

One of the most beautiful projects in Tallinn imho. Simple, elegant and has a very nordic look, with nice colours and contrasting black roofs. Suits the seaside perfectly. It's a nice thing to look at from that terrible grey Linnahall.

hahahahahaha!

[ssh]

Originally Posted by Jarmo K

hahahahahaha!

May I inquire as to what is so amusing? :)

[Jarmo K]

^ i know we all have a right for what ever opinions but that's just... unbelievable. imo the ilmarise (or preatoni) quarter is one of the most ridiculous and obscene things ever built in estonia (it was designed by some unknown italians). it's so bad it's not even kitch. fortunately i'm not the only one to think like that, the quarter happens to be one of those heavily criticized objects in the circle of professionals (ie architects, architectural critics etc).

for example:
http://paber.ekspress.ee/viewdoc/C87...256E7D0031118A
http://www.pealinn.ee/index.php?pid=111&lang=5&nid=6730
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/482613

[Sideshow_Bob]

/\ It looks very Swedish. Just the kinda stuff they build over here in Stockholm when they try to urbanize the suburbs.

[ssh]

Originally Posted by Jarmo K

^ i know we all have a right for what ever opinions but that's just... unbelievable. imo the ilmarise (or preatoni) quarter is one of the most ridiculous and obscene things ever built in estonia (it was designed by some unknown italians). it's so bad it's not even kitch. fortunately i'm not the only one to think like that, the quarter happens to be one of those heavily criticized objects in the circle of professionals (ie architects, architectural critics etc).

for example:
http://paber.ekspress.ee/viewdoc/C87...256E7D0031118A
http://www.pealinn.ee/index.php?pid=111&lang=5&nid=6730
http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/482613

Conflicting indeed.

I'm not an architect nor a critic and thus have my own «common folk» list of mistakes that are far worse and devastating than this simple housing project. Both the Viru and Solaris centres fall under this category.

Although the Rotermanni quarter, of course, is gorgeous (and sadly empty).

[dreag]

348
City plaza, SEB, Raddison, Swiss Hotel

View in city.

[Tin_Can]

Really nice! But,plz edit your post and add number to photo (this should be 348),it helps to keep all the photos in order.

@ssh - Welcome to SSC,more forumers are always needed here

@Jarmo K - I've seen worse and Ilmarise quarter is definetly not the worst development here. Thus I have to agree with ssh. Btw,do you know who designed German Embassy bulding? Local architects or Germans?

@Mario13th - Do you mean Danish Embassy?

[Mario13th]

Yeah, I thought there were more, but I guess my memory isn't serving me right.

[Jarmo K]

heeey, i didn't say it's THE worst development
just ONE among the worst, together with such faux pas as viru center and solaris, of course. but then again, who knows, maybe the architectural appearance of ilmarise quarter will be valued in a few decades. i think such industrial quarters deserve more, but fortunately we still have plenty of them to develop.

the architect of the german embassy is erich martinoff (allegedly from berlin or brunswick - i haven't found any more information on this guy), together with vilen künnapu and ain padrik (!!!!).

[ssh]

Beautiful pictures by the way, Tin_Can. Some of these buildings I've never noticed before. I look forward to seeing more of Tallinn by your lens. :)

[dreag]

349 panorama

[Mario13th]

Gosh, I really hope they'll fix up those ugly building around Kaubamaja.