Casa Haartman: Classicist Artist Villa in Naantali

Architectural Harmony on Luostarinkatu

Located at Luostarinkatu 3 in Naantali, Finland, Casa Haartman sits along the historic route connecting the modern city center with the medieval convent church and the wooden Old Town. Completed in 1926, the two-storey plastered brick residence stands as a prominent twentieth-century cultural landmark. It was designed between 1925 and 1926 by architect Erik Bryggman, who drew inspiration from 1920s Nordic Classicism, Swedish architectural designs popularized by Gunnar Asplund, and Italian vernacular building traditions (architettura minore). The exterior presents an understated, austere facade framed on two sides by a red wooden fence.

Collaborative Design and Craftsmanship

The home was commissioned by painter, art critic, and museum director Axel Haartman and his wife, Hedvig Haartman. Bryggman was a former student of Haartman at the Turku Drawing School, and the commission followed Haartman’s appointment as director of the Turku Art Museum in 1923. The couple lived in the home for more than forty years, regarding the integrated residence and grounds as Axel’s crowning artistic achievement.

While Bryggman designed the building's exterior envelope, the interior was shaped directly by the Haartmans. Axel designed the interior spaces and painted decorative ceiling and wall frescoes in the entrance vestibule and library. Hedvig served as Axel's primary muse and model, while also producing the house’s domestic textiles, tapestries, and hammered metal accessories. Axel also designed several pieces of custom furniture, basing the dining room cabinet and library bookcase on the historic wooden balcony of Pargas Church. These pieces were constructed by Pargas carpenter Karl Kyrklund. Outside, the home is framed by a residential garden containing blooming fruit trees, seasonal bulbs, and perennial beds.

Preservation and Art Collections

Hedvig Haartman died in 1967, and Axel passed away in 1969; the two are buried together in Kimito (Kemiönsaari) under a gravestone designed by Axel. The estate was maintained untouched according to their wishes by the memorial association Hedvigs Minne ("Hedvig's Memory") from 1970 to 2017. In accordance with Axel's will, the second-floor studio served as a residential apartment for visiting researchers from the 1970s through the 1990s.

In 2017, ownership was transferred to the Åbo Akademi University Foundation (Stiftelsen för Åbo Akademi). The building is protected under Finland's Building Protection Act.

Museum Operations

Casa Haartman operates as a seasonal public museum open from summer into early autumn. It displays the couple’s preserved living quarters, studio, library, and personal furnishings. The collection includes Axel Haartman's own paintings alongside works by notable Finnish artists such as Helene Schjerfbeck, Fanny Churberg, Victor Westerholm, and Wäinö Aaltonen. Because of the home's compact layout and narrow staircases, interior admission is limited to small groups of up to 15 visitors at a time.