Gustaf Nyström

He was active both as an influential teacher, as an architect in his own right, and as an official involved in groundbreaking urban planning projects.

Nyström studied architecture at the Polytechnical school (today Helsinki University of Technology) and graduated in 1876.

[1] During this time he developed the curriculum from a one-sided focus on artistic qualities (e.g. through practicing architectural drawing) to also include elements of engineering.

[1] He continued to teach in the Classical tradition but also emphasised the local Nordic and Finnish expressions of architecture.

These are executed in a traditional, representative form of Classicism, possibly in an effort to harmonize with other parts of the city centre of Helsinki which were already built in this style by Carl Ludvig Engel.

Throughout his life he retained close contacts with the architectural scene in the other Nordic countries and notably also with that of Austria.