The modern history of Haukilahti starts from the 16th century, but most of the development to its current state happened in the decades after World War II, when many new detached houses and apartment buildings were built in the area.

After the war, Haukilahti grew from a small vacation spot for Helsinkians into a suburb of six thousand inhabitants, which also caused its main income to change from agriculture to services and trade.

[1] Haukilahti is located between the districts of Westend in the east, Matinkylä in the west and Niittykumpu in the north.

[4] Haukilahti is surrounded by a line of cliffs 20 to 30 metres high (Hauenkallio, Telamäki, Rajakallio, Pitkänkallio).

The apartment blocks are by roads Mellstenin rantatie and Haukilahdenkatu, on hills Pitkänkallionmäki and Hauenkallionmäki and near border to Westend.

[7] The apartment buildings in Haukilahti are located west of the boat harbour on Mellstenin rantatie, on the highest spots of Pitkänkallionmäki and Hauenkallionmäki, and along Haukilahdenkatu and the border to Westend.

[5]: 12–14  The village of Gäddvik was first mentioned in a geography book from 1544, where it was marked as belonging to the medieval socken of Espoo, Finnoviken.

[5]: 12–14  A 1774 map representing the lands of the Gräsa manor shows six croft houses in the Haukilahti area.

[5]: 44–47 The military outpost XXXIV (34) of Krepost Sveaborg built by Imperial Russia is also located in Toppelundinpuisto in Haukilahti.

The outpost was never used in battle, and the fortifications remain partly incomplete as the Russians withdrew from Finland after Finnish independence in spring 1918.

Up to the 1930s Haukilahti could only be accessed by ship, but the situation changed when the Finnish state decided to build the Jorvaksentie highway (now known as Länsiväylä) in 1932 to combat unemployment in areas west of Helsinki.

[5]: 23–25  The Lotta canteen of the division was discontinued after the Moscow Peace Treaty in late March 1940 and the troops were sent home on 5 April.

[5]: 23–25  The lighting battery resumed operations at the start of the Continuation War on 12 July 1941 after general mobilisation.

[5]: 25–28 Haukilahti got many more detached houses after World War II as evacuees from the Karelian Republic were settled in Finland.

[5]: 49–51  The Uusimaa provincial government decided on a ban on buildings in Haukilahti on 4 May 1950 to be able to create a new zoning plan.

Still in the early 1960s there was a farm, a fishing installation and villas near the beach, and Jorvaksentie was the only connection from Haukilahti to Westend.

[5]: 91–95  Architects designing buildings in Haukilahti included Matti Aaltonen, Jaakko Laapotti and Toivo Korhonen.

[13] The city of Espoo made a new zoning plan in May 2016[14] for a new residential area on the Mellstenintie side edge of the Toppelundinpuisto park.

[21] A French-language kindergarten was founded in Haukilahti in 1995, but it later moved to Kruununhaka in the neighbouring city of Helsinki.

The building, popularly called "Simpukka" (Finnish for "clam") mostly serves as an all-activity centre for the youth.

[34] Near Pitkänkallionmäki is a private senior citizens' home Opri and Oleksi maintained by Esperi Care, with 16 inhabitant places.

[36] The city of Espoo maintains a public hiking trail called Rantaraitti which goes through the Haukilahti coast[37] as well as a running track of 800 metres on Hauenkallio built in the early 1980s.

[40] It has been named by students from the Helsinki University of Technology as the best beach for windsurfing in the entire capital area, and has a direct connection to the Mellsten harbour, which is home to 637 boats and four yacht clubs,[41] and includes two seaside cafés.

[43] The Toppelund field has an artificial turf surface, which the football club HooGee installed with sponsorship funding in summer 2018.

[43] In winter, the fields of the Toppelund and Haukilahti schools, as well as Sandika, are frozen into skating rinks.

[62] The building is nowadays known as the AHTI Business Park[63] and has previously served as the head office of the company Datasaab-Valmet.

It has also given scholarships to nearby schools, published the Haukilahden Viesti magazine and had an effect on the zoning and construction plans in the area.

[65] The Diocese of Olari maintained the Haukikappeli chapel near the Länsiviitta shopping centre, inaugurated on 15 September 1991,[5]: 76–81  which provided events for baptism and marriage and to some extent also funerals.

The Länsiväylä highway allows good car and bus traffic connections from Haukilahti to Helsinki in the east and Kirkkonummi in the west.