Building of the Civil Guard of Salo-Uskela – “Blue House”

In the 1920s, Classicism was a prevailing trend in architecture. Architects moved away from the sprawling richness and decorative air of Jugend style buildings, and focused on designing clearer forms and simpler decorative motifs. Mediterranean, particularly Italian, construction and milieus became a key source of inspiration. In the early 1920s, the Civil Guard of Salo-Uskela and the local Lotta Svärd association undertook a construction project to build a house for the guard. The building was designed by Erik Bryggman as one of the earliest works of his architectural firm. Influenced by his trip to Italy and Sweden in the early 1920s, Bryggman designed the wooden building in Classicist style. The civil guard building, which was completed in 1924, includes Mediterranean features such as pilasters, pillars and decorative motifs reflecting antique times. After the Second World War, the building was transferred to Uskelan Maamiesseura [Uskela Farmers’ Society] and became commonly known as Sininen talo or Blue House.