Domus Litonii

Domus Litonii (Latin for "the Litonius house") is a three-story Empire style residential, commercial and office building with a lower bazaar wing located at Aleksanterinkatu 50 in central Helsinki, Finland.

[1][3] Domus Litonii is a residential and commercial building representing the typical late Empire architecture in Helsinki.

The bazaar wing with its large windows and the baluster railings on its roof represents the modern business architecture typical to the 1920s.

[2] When the building was completed on 3 December 1847 it was one of the largest private houses in the entire capital area of Finland.

[5]: 40–42 Plans to construct the Keskuskatu street through the block to help traffic between the Esplanadi park and the Helsinki Central railway station were started in the 1910s.

The businessman Allan Hjelt and the architect Eliel Saarinen started the project through their company Oy Centralgatan Ab in 1916 by buying out the properties on Aleksanterinkatu 52 and Pohjoinen Esplanadikatu 37-41.

This gave 7 metres more space to the Litonius family, so they decided to construct a lower bazaar wing on the lot.

[5]: 74 In the 1960s, the owners of Domus Litonii made thorough investigations about the possible reuse of the lot which had grown immensely valuable.

This was in line with the scarcity of building protection in the early 1960s in Helsinki, with the most prominent example being the dismantling of the Norrmén house in 1960.

However, the list was not changed, and Domus Litonii became a protected building when the general plan was approved in January 1976.