Wivi Lönn - a pioneer of female architects

Wivi Lönn 20 May, 1872 - 27 December, 1966

Wivi Lönn is a pioneer of Finnish women architects. Early in her career, she won invitational competitions in her hometown of Tampere. Lönn was commissioned to design schools, and the buildings in Tampere led to an increase in similar commissions throughout Finland. Lönn had a major influence on Tampere's architecture in the early 1900s, when the city was going through an economic boom.

Olivia (Wivi) Mathilda Lönn was born in Tampere on 20 May 1872. The family lived in Onkiniemi near a brewery. After attending the Finnish Girls' School in Tampere, Lönn enrolled in the building department of the Tampere Industrial School in 1891. In 1893 she continued her studies as an extra student at the Polytechnic College in Helsinki, where women were not yet admitted as full students. Lönn graduated as an architect in 1896 and was the first woman in Finland to set up her own architectural practice.

Public buildings were the result of invitational competitions. Lönn's main work is considered to be the Tampere central fire station (1907). She was constantly designing buildings for other municipalities as well. In Tampere, the success of the female architect caused indignation among her male colleagues, and there was public debate in the newspaper columns. Despite her first prize, Lönn was unable to design the building of the House of the Free Fire Brigade (WPK). She was still annoyed about this years later.

The Tampere years were a busy time. Lönn moved to Jyväskylä in 1911. Architecta, the Finnish Association of Women Architects, was founded on Wivi Lönn's 70th birthday in 1942. Lönn was awarded the title of professor in 1959. Lönn, who died in Helsinki on 27 December 1966, is buried in the Kalevankangas Cemetery in Tampere.