Castle through the decades

The Schauman Castle was complete in 1924 to serve as the home of Bruno Krook, the director of the plywood factory in Lutakko, Jyväskylä, and his family. Krook had the castle built as his official residence on behalf of the Schauman plywood factory without asking permission of the factory's shareholders. The castle was designed by Architect Gunnar Achilles Wahlroos.

The plywood factory started the industrialisation of the city of Jyväskylä when it began its operation in 1911 at the initiative of Mining Counsellor Wilhelm Schauman from Pietarsaari. The plywood factory Wilh. Schaumans Fanerfabrik Ab was named after him, and it continued to operate till 1995.

Bruno Krook was the director of the factory from 1917 to 1929 and later, starting in 1945, he was the chairman of its board until he died in 1954.

Castle as home and venue for banquets

Especially before the Second World War, the Schauman Castle was an impressive and bourgeois building for a home – just as Krook had intended. Even the Schaumans, who lived in Pietarsaari and owned the factory, lived more modestly than the factory director. The luxurious and elegant banquet halls were built in the style of baroque and renaissance, and art and furniture was brought to the castle all the way from Italy. Due to its large size, the castle required service staff to function; the staff lived in the castle with Krook's family.

The fact that Krook often accommodated the business partners, who were visiting him, was taken into consideration in designing the official residence. Business talks and gentlemen's entertainment made certain requirements, so the castle had a smoking salon, large dining room, winter garden with a pool table and even a tennis court on the top floor.

The official residence was on the first floor of the castle, and it was carefully separated from the living quarters of the family. The family's living quarters were primarily on the second floor except for the breakfast room on the first floor. Guest rooms for the family's own guests, factory board and business partners were on the second floor. The castle's modern sanitary facilities, with arched showers, bides and modern water closets, were a special cause of pride.

New master and new era

Krook was clever and diligent in his work, although prone to increase his wealth even through the company. Because he was efficient in business, Krook's actions were often frowned upon but not judged. However, disagreements with the factory shareholders led to Bruno Krook's dismissal in 1929.

Rafael Jaatinen was appointed new factory director, and he and his family moved into the castle after Krook. Jaatinen's term as factory director was difficult because he experienced both the depression and the Second World War. But Jaatinen was known as a humane and modern leader, who significantly improved the factory workers' conditions and living standard through social welfare, for example, and founded the personnel magazine Shaumanin Sauma.

Wartime bombings spared the Schauman castle, but the plywood factory suffered greatly: it took three days to extinguish a fire caused by a bomb. As a result of the war, an air raid shelter was built in the castle next to the wine cellar.

Daily life enters the castle

But the war had an even greater impact on the castle. After the war, society and its values began to shift in a more democratic direction and class differences started to crumble. Modernisation and urbanisation of society had an impact on values, but the shortage and lack of things experienced in wartime brought social classes closer together more clearly. The official residence of the castle no longer suited the social ideals of a less formal and more private setting, so the interiors of the castle were renovated. Jaatinen never saw the castle renovation project, which took place in 1945–1946, because he resigned from his position as factory director in the spring of 1945.

The renovated castle was divided into three parts: two separate living quarters and an official residence for receiving guests, consisting of a banquet hall, meeting rooms and guest rooms. The larger rooms were divided to form smaller ones, the decorative wall painting was covered with a more ordinary paint coat, but on the other hand the electrical engineering of the house was upgraded. Later, the castle has undergone renovations, but its layout and room division have not been changed.

Master of the modern era

After Jaatinen resigned, the castle no longer had a master like him or Krook, because it now offered homes for two households. Furthermore, each new inhabitant stayed in the castle for only a short time.

The first family to move into the renovated castle was that of Pehr Ole Schauman or Pelle Schauman from Pietarsaari. They had the apartment on the second floor of the castle, but when Pelle died a few years later, the family moved out in 1948. Edvard Firtjof Hanell, who succeeded Jaatinen as factory director in 1945, moved into the castle with his wife in the summer of 1946. However, Hanell was factory director only briefly, because he died in the spring of 1947 and his wife did not continue living in the castle after that.

After the Schaumans left, Uno Eugen Savola, the technical director of the plywood factory, moved into the lower floor in 1947; he moved to Viiala already the following year when he was appointed director of the Viiala factory. Carl-Gustav Londen succeeded Hanell as factory director and he and his family moved into the second floor of the castle. Also Londen did not stay long at the head of the factory or in the castle, because he resigned in 1951. After Londen, Uno Savola, who had earlier moved to Viiala, was appointed factory director, and he continued in this position all the way to his death in 1968. But Savola did not move into the castle. Instead, he built a separate house, Villa Savola, next to the castle, because he was a man who loved his privacy. Later, Villa Savola has also been called Uunola or the Little Castle.

In the new era, the only person to live in the castle was the new housekeeper Hilda Pylvänäinen, who managed the upkeep of the castle for several decades. Once Pylvänäinen retired, Aino-Lotta Kinnunen succeeded her as housekeeper in 1982. The castle now functioned mostly as a facility to entertain VIP guests, such as President Urho Kekkonen, King Carl Gustav XVI of Sweden, Prince Albert of Monaco and President Mauno Koivisto and Mrs Tellervo Koivisto.

In 1988, Schauman Corporation merged with Kymmene Group (currently UPM Kymmene), and Kymmene became the owner of the castle, but the castle continued as a venue for entertaining ordinary - and extraordinary - guests. When the plywood factory was closed in 1995, it took 13 years to find a new owner for the castle.

Source: Maria Pecoraro: Schaumanin linna – Tehtaanjohtajan koti Jyväskylässä (2009)