The Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki

Dear readers,

today I would like to present a very special Aalto site, one that I have kind of been saving for the end of this long journey, the glorious Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki. While the building itself, housing the restaurant on its top floor, wasn't designed by Alvar Aalto, it is the interior of the restaurant that features Aalto's special design.



Site No. 86: Interior and Furnishing of the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki (1937)

In 1937 Alvar Aalto was commissioned by managing director of Ahström company Harry Gullichsen and his wife Maire Gullichsen to design the interior and furnishing of the Savoy Restaurant located on the top floor of the building owned by the Ahström family. In the following years Aalto designed also the well-known Gullichsen's home Villa Mairea in Noormarkku. The Savoy Restaurant is a high-class restaurant located right in the heart of Helsinki besides Esplanade Park, the actual Savoy Theater and across the street from the famous Kämp hotel. The restaurant is located on the 8. floor overseeing all of downtown Helsinki, Esplanade Park and providing magnificent views towards Finland's best known building, the white Helsinki Cathedral.

The sales team of the restaurant was so kind to arrange a special visit for me to give me the chance to photograph the restaurant and its interior outside its opening hours. I was even able to meet one of the staff members that was significantly involved in the latest renovation of the restaurant two years ago who could answer me the many detailed questions I had. In addition the chef the cuisine provided me with a private tour of the rooftop gardens for which the restaurant has become as well well-known in the recent years.

It was also the name of Savoy Restaurant that provided the name to Alvar Aalto's famous Savoy Vase which he originally designed as part of the restaurant's interior. It does not come at a surprise that every table in the restaurant is decorated with a Savoy Vase. However, also beyond the Savoy Restaurant, the Savoy Vase has become and icon as well as the trademark of Alvar Aalto and can nowadays been found in very Finnish home, including myself owning several pieces.

In the main dinning hall many well-known Artek classics can be found, however, the interior contains also many elements that have been designed for the restaurant exclusively. Such as there were the arm chairs which are still original from 1937. During the last renovation two years ago they have been carefully restored. Another highlight are the lamps on the roof which are lamps and ventilation at the same time. Both the roof and the lamps have as well been carefully restored two years ago. Also many of the tables have been renovated recently. Hereby the utmost was done to preserve as much from the original as possible while ensuring that the operations of a running restaurant are not compromised.

The long kanapee has received a new black and white fabric based on the famous Artek design.

Another highlight of the restaurant is the Marski table which was Finland's president during WWII marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim's favorite table. He was a regular at the Savoy Restaurant.

In the middle of the dinning hall there is also a serving table in the shape of the famous Savoy Vase.








Besides the dinning hall there is also a glassed roof terrace that features exclusive Artek furniture in addition to magnificent views. Especially worth mentioning here are the Artek chairs model 611 (Alvar Aalto, 1929) usually upholstered with fabric, however, here instead with leather. I was told that only the Artek shop in Tokyo sells exactly these same chairs.

At this point I would like to say a special thank you to the friendly staff of the Savoy Restaurant that provided me with the great opportunity to experience the great interior and furnishing at first hand. Finally, I would like to share one more picture of the magnificent view from the restaurant and its terrace provide over Esplanade Park and downtown Helsinki.

The Savoy Restaurant is open on weekdays and weekends serving both lunch and dinner. The restaurant provides a great opportunity to combine dinning in a Michelin Guide restaurant, with magnificent views of downtown Helsinki and an interior designed by Alvar Aalto preserved in its original form as of 1937.