Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen (1873–1950) was the towering figure of modern Nordic architecture. Starting in the fertile ground of Finnish National Romanticism—where folkloric Kalevala myth merged with native granite and timber—Saarinen navigated the transition toward monumental civic rationalism at the Helsinki Central Railway Station, before emigrating to the United States to shape American modernism at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
1. Hvitträsk (1902–1904): The Nordic Forest Gesamtkunstwerk
In 1902, the young architectural trio of Gesellius, Lindgren & Saarinen escaped the Russian-dominated political climate of Helsinki to construct a communal home and studio on a wooded ridge overlooking Lake Vitträsk in Kirkkonummi.
Tectonic Character of Hvitträsk
Much like Henry van de Velde's contemporaneous creation of Villa Bloemenwerf in Belgium, Hvitträsk was conceived as a self-sufficient total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk):
- Rough-Hewn Boulders & Dark Timber: The lower foundation walls are built from massive native red granite boulders, stepping up into dark-stained pine log construction with steep shingle roofs that evoke traditional Finnish medieval stone churches and log farmhouses.
- Integrated Applied Arts: Saarinen and his wife Louise Bemböck designed copper lighting fixtures, open hearth fireplaces with handcrafted terracotta tile inlays, carved wooden furniture, and ryijy woolen tapestries designed in collaboration with painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela.
2. Helsinki Central Railway Station (1904–1919)
In 1904, Saarinen won the national design competition for the new central railway terminus of Helsinki with an ornate, turreted National Romantic castle scheme. However, progressive critics—notably Sigurd Frosterus and Gustaf Strengell—attacked the design, demanding that a modern railway hub reflect industrial iron technology and rational passenger circulation rather than medieval romanticism.
In an act of rare creative courage, Saarinen completely set aside his competition-winning scheme and spent five years redesigning the station from first principles:
Architectural Innovations of the Terminus
- Finnish Pink Granite Cladding: The entire exterior is wrapped in smooth, dressed blocks of native Finnish rose granite (Hankoniemi granite), conveying unyielding geological permanence while eliminating Gothic historical ornament.
- The Monumental Entrance Arch: The main passenger portal is framed by a sweeping semi-circular concrete barrel arch that directly reflects the structural vault of the grand ticketing hall within.
- The Lantern Carriers (Lyhdynkantajat): Flanking the central entrance are two pairs of colossal granite male figures sculpted by Emil Wikström, known affectionately to generations of Finns as the Kivimiehet ("Stone Men"). Emerging directly out of the granite piers, they hold glowing spherical glass globes that illuminate the evening snow.
- The Clock Tower: Rising 48.5 meters above the city, the copper-capped clocktower became Helsinki's defining civic landmark, stepping upward with subtle setbacks that anticipated Art Deco verticality.
3. The 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower Competition
In 1922, the Chicago Tribune launched an international architectural competition to build "the most beautiful office building in the world." While the first prize was awarded to John Mead Howells and Raymond Hood for their Neo-Gothic cathedral tower, it was Eliel Saarinen's second-prize entry that revolutionized skyscraper history.
Instead of pasting Gothic flying buttresses onto a steel skeleton, Saarinen designed a soaring, telescopic tower that stepped back gracefully in clean vertical facets, allowing natural light to cascade down into the street canyons.
Aging master Louis Sullivan published an emotional tribute, declaring Saarinen's design to be the only true American skyscraper of the competition—a living, organic monument that pointed the way to modern architecture. Saarinen's tower directly inspired the stepped-back skyscrapers of New York and Chicago throughout the 1920s and 1930s (including the Daily News Building, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building).
4. The Cranbrook Academy of Art: The American Bauhaus
Following his triumph in Chicago, Saarinen moved his family to the United States in 1923. Philanthropist George Gough Booth invited him to plan and design the Cranbrook Educational Community in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, appointing him president of the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 1932.
At Cranbrook, Saarinen created an American counterpart to Henry van de Velde's Weimar Kunstgewerbeschule and the Bauhaus:
- Studio Craft Integration: Students worked in open studio ateliers combining architecture, metalsmithing, ceramics, and weaving under master practitioners (including Swedish sculptress Carl Milles and textile artist Loja Saarinen).
- Mentorship of Icons: Saarinen personally mentored a legendary generation of mid-century designers, including Charles Eames, Ray Kaiser Eames, Harry Bertoia, Florence Knoll, and his brilliant son, Eero Saarinen (designer of the Gateway Arch and TWA Flight Center).
5. Architectural Comparison: Eliel Saarinen vs. Henry van de Velde
| Design Dimension | Eliel Saarinen (Nordic Romanticism & Monumentalism) | Henry van de Velde (Belgian Vanguard & Modernism) |
|---|---|---|
| Material Affinity | Native rose granite boulders, heavy pine logs, cast copper, stepped brick massing. | Planed oak and padouk joinery, hand-wrought silver, curvilinear plaster, reinforced concrete. |
| Evolutionary Arc | Folkloric Kalevala romanticism → monumental civic stone → stepped American skyscraper modernism. | Neo-Impressionist painting → curvilinear Art Nouveau → Weimar Werkbund → Rationalist towers (Boekentoren). |
| Total Artwork Concept | Forest communal commune at Hvitträsk; educational craft campus at Cranbrook Academy. | Domestic total works of art at Villa Bloemenwerf and Villa Esche; directorship of ISAD La Cambre. |
"Always design a thing by considering it in its next larger context — a chair in a room, a room in a house, a house in an environment, an environment in a city plan."
— Eliel Saarinen