Jyväskylä City Hall

The City Hall has offices for about thirty people. The facilities on the ground floor include the Mayor’s office, the City Board meeting room, the Registry Office, the City Office, Legal Services and the information desk.

The City Council has its meetings in the Great Hall on the first floor, with the adjacent halls being reserved for receptions and other special events. The other end of the building houses offices for communications and international relations staff.

In addition to committee meeting rooms, the underground floor has reception and cafeteria facilities with vaulted ceilings as well as a distribution kitchen with auxiliary facilities, staff facilities and technology rooms. The names of conference facilities – such as Chief, Baton and Cell – reflect the history of the building.

The latest renovation (2010-2012) considerably improved the working conditions of the City Council, council groups and the City Board. The building's space division changed substantially and was almost restored to the original.

History of the City Hall

When the town of Jyväskylä was established in 1837, architect Carl Ludvig Engel included a city hall in the town plan, next to the central square.

The City Hall was designed by Karl Viktor Reinius, the County Architect of Vaasa, in 1896. Completed in 1899, the City Hall was a prominent building in a town of wooden houses. At the end of the nineteenth century, Jyväskylä had fewer than 3,000 residents, compared to more than 133,000 in 2013.

The building had facilities for the city court, councillors, city treasury, police station, auction house, societies and associations as well as the city library and reading room. In addition, the building provided facilities for the Bank of Finland.

The City Hall became a service centre for local residents. Over the decades, a great number of public events, parades and public meetings have been held in front of the building. City administration constituted the core of City Hall operations. Gradually, the library, the reading room and the Bank of Finland moved out and were replaced by administration and officials of the growing town. The City Council and City Board held their meetings at the City Hall. In 1928, the Great Hall was refurnished with chairs and tables designed by Kerttu Tamminen, an architect born in Jyväskylä.

Over its history of more than 110 years, the City Hall has seen many renovations

The first were made to create more offices by adding interior walls. In the process, decorative murals by Emil Sanmark, an artist based in Jyväskylä, were painted over. Beginning in 1939, all ceiling murals were covered and the walls were painted white as part of the renovation of the Great Hall.

The most important reception facilities – the entrance hall, the main staircase, the Great Hall and the City Board meeting room – were returned to their original condition during the first extensive renovation of the City Hall, from 1979 to 1981.

The City Hall was renovated between 2010 and 2012 because of traffic vibration damage and indoor air problems. The renovation considerably improved the working conditions of the City Council, council groups and the City Board. The original room layout, colours, gypsum cornices, decorative murals and wooden panel doors were restored as part of the renovation, as were the old massive-wood furniture and valuable lighting fixtures. The offices have new furniture and lighting fixtures that represent the twenty-first century with their modern, strong shapes and metallic colours. The building's space division changed substantially and was almost restored to the original.