Dream home in an old margarine factory: “I love how it looks here”

The Finnish State Margarine Factory once shared handy, valuable tips in itsrecipe booklet: “Only good ingredients make good things. The most convincing and reliable guideline when purchasing margarine is the coat of arms of Finland and the name ‘Valtio Herkku margarine’ on the package.” Another tip reminds us that you can easily thicken puréed soups with margarine.

The unexpectedly well-preserved booklet found in an antiquarian bookshop is now a cherished reminder of Peppi Laine and Antti Karvanen’s home’s greasy industrial history.

“I’ve been thinking about whether we should try some of the recipes sometime. We thought about framing an old margarine advertisement for our home’s wall or the stairwell, but we haven’t found anything suitable,” Peppi says.

Peppi and her partner Antti were the first residents to move into the former margarine factory in Helsinki at the end of January 2020. It was like moving into the middle of a construction site. Passers-by didn’t yet realize that the abandoned building was coming back to life. Peppi recalls feeling happy but also incredulous. After all, they had waited nearly two years for their home to be ready.

The demanding construction project turned out to be even more laborious than expected, which delayed the schedule by months. Fortunately, Peppi and Antti weren’t in a desperate hurry to find a larger apartment. Besides, no other equally interesting options appeared on the Helsinki housing market. The couple were initially in line for several apartments, but the long wait weeded out other eager buyers.

It was good luck that Peppi and Antti’s cycling route passed through the Teurastamo area on an otherwise ordinary evening. Near Kellohalli, the pair stopped when they noticed that the old margarine factory was being converted into a residential building. Both were immediately intrigued by the possibility.

Once home, Peppi and Antti began to explore the project in more detail. Then they had to hurry to get things moving before their honeymoon to America, so that the opportunity for a dream home wouldn’t slip by.

Stylistically, the former State Margarine Factory on the border of Sörnäinen and Hermanni represents 1920s neoclassicism. The year 2024 marks exactly one hundred years since the building appeared in the cityscape, as it was constructed in early 1924 on the then prison grounds. The factory, which had two floors, an attic, and basement space, was designed by the prison administration’s architect Uno Sjöholm. If sources are to be believed, some builders came from behind the bars.

Originally, the state established its margarine factory in Turku in 1922 because it wanted fresh, cheaper, and more consistent-quality margarine for prisons. Reportedly, it was because of a cartel of private margarine factories that had been forcing the state, a major customer, to pay inflated prices for the spread.

When Turku could no longer meet the demand, it was decided that a new, more modern factory would be built in the capital. The building was initially rectangular until it was expanded to its current L-shape in the 1930s.

The left end of the building housed office and residential spaces, the factory halls were in the middle, and technical facilities were placed on the right side. The extension included, among other things, dressing and washing facilities.

The factory first supplied margarine to state institutions, as its name suggests, but by the early 1970s, over half of its output was sold to private customers such as bakeries, large kitchens, and restaurants. The products weren’t unfamiliar to home tables either, as the Herkku and Sole margarine tubs were also sent out from the factory for retail sale.

The factory closed its doors amid the recession in 1992 after producing margarine for nearly six decades.

Peppi and Antti appreciate the past and the layers of history; not everything has to be new and shiny. Peppi is especially fascinated by buildings like their own home, whose purpose has changed to residential use. She says she used to consume a lot of urban exploration content when she was younger. Some years ago, the couple wandered together in Goussainville near Paris, a town almost abandoned due to aircraft noise.

“I really like abandoned buildings. It would have been awesome to get inside here when it was still in terrible condition,” Peppi says with a laugh.

Antti enjoys 20th-century architecture. He fondly remembers the encounter he had a few years ago with Timo, who walked into the garden and whose father had worked at the factory for decades.

“If a factory producing margarine were built today, they would invest in something other than beauty. In this era of disposable culture, it’s wonderful that our home already has a hundred-year story that we can continue,” Antti notes.

Peppi highlights a sad moment from history when the building was a temporary morgue for the victims of the M/S Estonia ferry disaster. Later, the building served once more as storage during the morgue renovation of the Helsinki parish. The thought doesn’t disturb her but is a testament to everything that can fit into one building’s past. Subsequently, the building was rented out as storage space but for the most part, it stood there deteriorating, cold and empty, for nearly thirty years.

When design office Talli’s architect Minna Lukander was given the project of converting the old margarine factory into apartments, the starting point was bleak. Even a few test tubes lay around here and there. The long-vacant building had also housed squatters.

“It wasn’t a very uplifting experience to visit the building. On the other hand, I could still see how magnificent the spaces had been. The old factory halls were impressive in height,” architect Lukander recalls.

The ground, intermediate, and upper floors had to be demolished so that only the foundations, listed exterior walls, and chimney remained standing. Since some of the building’s massive brick exterior walls were of varying thicknesses, they were insulated with silicate boards.

New window and door openings were added to the garden-facing facades. The windows were renewed to match the original style, but the roof was built slightly higher than the original. One of the stairwells remained in its old location, so the garden-side entrance stayed largely as it was. The building’s history shows also in the fact that the granite loading dock became a terrace for one of the apartments. One of the starting points of the renovation plan was, after all, to create outdoor spaces for the apartments.

In total, 31 apartments were built over three floors. Most are studios, but there are also several larger apartments on the attic floor. The architect is pleased with the result, where amidst all the new, some old atmosphere could be preserved. She thinks that the building, which has gained a new life, is now charming, personal, and even somewhat empathetic. The cozy garden and new outbuilding offer a great opportunity for communal living.

The first time Peppi and Antti visited their three-room apartment, they wore helmets and only a few partition walls were up. Their apartment is located in the space where the extension’s washing facilities from the 1930s used to be. The couple’s first tasks were to paint the walls with clay paint and choose the kitchen. The idea was to try some new colors for themselves that they didn’t have in their previous home in Alppila.

Peppi’s interior design philosophy is based on colorfulness and eco-friendliness. A small dent isn’t a reason to buy new. Her interior design tastes align quite closely with Antti’s.

“We both love playing with colors. I’ve always liked having lots of different textiles, houseplants and interesting details in the home and for items to have a story,” Peppi says.

The home tells interesting stories about both Morocco and the lamp from Peppi’s childhood home. The painting in the living room depicting Bob Dylan was acquired on their honeymoon, and the ceramic frog basking on the windowsill was made by Peppi when she was young. The couple used to travel a lot, which is reflected as an international touch in their interior decor. The beautiful stained glass that stylishly covers the bathroom window was brought home from Amsterdam.

The family enjoys spending a lot of time at home, which feels wonderfully cozy. Whenever the weather permits, they spend time on the terrace. Many visitors conveniently knock directly on the terrace door rather than ringing the doorbell around the corner.

Their daughter Penni was born nine months after moving day. With several children living in the building, they don’t have to go far to find playmates. Peppi says with a laugh that the circle has amusingly closed: their home is on old prison grounds, and their daughter attends a daycare built in the prison’s former pig house.

Antti says that even after four years, the home feels new because it has adapted well to the family’s needs.

“I think that decades from now, putting her to bed and reading bedtime stories will stand out as the most important memories of this home.”