History of Vartiosaari
The architectural heritage site of Vartiosaari has been preserved exceptionally well, considering the conditions in Helsinki, as nothing new has been built on the island since the 1950s.
The building stock in Vartiosaari comprises roughly 50 summer villas and 100 other buildings related to the villa settlement. The first summer villas on the island were built in the late 19th century, when residents set out to spend their summers in the archipelago near Helsinki due to the city’s rapid growth.
This trend was sped up by the introduction of steamboat service in the 1830s, which allowed summer holiday goers to commute to work from the Helsinki archipelago starting from the late 19th century.