Villa built by Aino Acktén, Heinävesi

This two-floored villa is the summer house of Finland’s most significant opera singer of the early 1900s, Aino Actén. The villa is situated in a peninsula near Koukunpolvi as part of the nationally renowed Heinävesi route, considered to be a historical area of special natural beauty. The villa was built and partially designed by Aino Actén in 1920-1921. The building was finished around 1923 using lock notches with 5 inch thick logs. An interesting feature of this building is that it has D-logs which are round inside the building and flat outside.

Hongos carried out restoration work for the logs in Autumn 2011, tightly cooperating with the Finland’s National Board of Antiqitues. Three layers of logs were changed. The entire floor of the main hall was raised up. The building was insulated using linen, and the outer surfaces were finished to imitate the original style. Concrete steps were partially removed to carry out log repair work. Water damage to the logs was caused by these steps, directing water towards the wall.