Milavida

We had lovely evening walk in Tampere. In the photo there is a Blackbird on the fence and a neo-baroque palace Milavida. 


Peter von Nottbeck was one of the owners of the Finlayson cotton mill. He bought a piece of land, a tall cliff called Näsinkallio in 1893. The plan was to build his home there.

The drawings for the building were prepared by a famous architect called Karl August Wrede. Plans were were completed in 1897 and  name was decided to be Milavida. The latter part of the 19th century was a time when previous architectural styles were frequently revisited, and indeed Milavida was influenced by many, quite different trends.

The ground floor was intended for entertaining guests and meeting visitors, while the second floor was reserved for the family and their guests. The servants lived on the third floor.

Peter von Nottbeck’s family included four children: Iris (b. 1895), Andrée (b. 1897), and twins Alfred and Olga (b. 1898). Their mother, Olga von Nottbeck, died in Baden-Baden on the day of the twins’ birth. After burying his wife in the family grave in Lielahti, Peter von Nottbeck had to deal with difficulties in the construction of his yet unfinished mansion. One of the problems involved his contractor’s bankruptcy. In spring 1899, Peter von Nottbeck returned to his family in Paris, where he suddenly died of appendicitis. The palatial estate was now owned by the four orphaned infants, who lived at Milavida with their servants from autumn 1899 until autumn 1902.

The Nottbecks left Tampere one after another, and Milavida was sold to the City of Tampere in 1905.


How Milavida's story continued, I will tell that next time.



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