Years of note

1749

The first prison building, Helsinki Crown prison, was built in the Katajanokka area in 1749. It was a wooden building with five rooms and a small entrance hall.  Since it was destroyed in a fire, a second crown prison was build to replace it in the year 1800. 

1837
Helsinki County prison was completed in 1837. Five year earlier tsar Nicholas I of Russia approved the design and gave authorisation to build a new stone prison next to the former crown prison. The new building had 12 prison cells, two rooms for guards and a chapel. The chapel, in it's time the second oldest church in Helsinki, has been in its original use since it was completed. 

1888

The extension of the Helsinki county prison was completed. Russian Tsar Aleksander III authorised the building works for the three new wings with red brick walls.  This part of the building is an example of the late Gothic period architecture and also a  classic example of the Philadelphia model, which was invented in America in the beginning of the 1800's. After the extention part was in use, the oldest part was changed into an administration building. At this time the prison had 164 cells.

1944

The Helsinki county prison was hit in an air raid on 6.2.1944. An aerial bomb exploded in then evening at 20.30 near the prison bakery, killing a guard, starting a fire and causing a lot of confusion. Five prisoners used this opportunity to escape. 

2002

The prison in Katajanokka was closed in the spring of 2002 and the last prisoners were transported to the new prison in Vantaa. 

2006

The construction work at Hotel Katajanokka began. Bars were removed, new windows added and tons of soil were transported away. The high walls surrounding the yard, outer walls of the building and the central hallway - which are protected by the National Board of Antiquities - were preserved almost in their original form.

2007

The historical prison milieu of Katajanokka comes to life again as a high-class, modern hotel in the middle of May 2007.