Bulevardi

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Bulevardi is a boulevard in Helsinki, Finland. It runs from Erottaja to Hietalahdentori and is lined with restaurants, cafés, and art galleries. The Alexander Theatre and the Sinebrychoff Art Museum are located along the street. The avenue forms part of a culturally and historically important axis that continues via Erottaja and the Esplanadi park to the Market Square. The street trees are mostly old lindens with some younger maples, and the area is protected as a nationally significant urban environment with architecturally valuable buildings.

Bulevardi was created in the 19th century to ease traffic between Hietalahti and the South Harbour. It was named after boulevards in other countries. Its name history is long: it was Boulevarden in 1820, then received Finnish names Lehtokatu and Pulewardinkatu in 1866; the Swedish name Boulevardsgatan appeared in the 1870s, followed by Boulevardinkatu in the 1890s. The current Finnish name Bulevardinkatu and the Swedish Boulevardsgatan were standardized in 1928. The first houses were built in the early 1820s, and the street soon became a residence area for the well-to-do. Architect Carl Ludvig Engel built his home there and created a garden. In the 1870s, old wooden houses were replaced with apartment buildings, and in the 20th century many apartments were turned into offices.

Part of the road for motor traffic still shows a nearly intact Belgian block pavement from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while sidewalks are mostly asphalt. Helsinki’s trams run along Bulevardi (lines 1 and 3 from Fredrikinkatu to Erottaja, line 6 from Eiranranta to Erottaja), and bus line 22 travels from Fredrikinkatu to Katajaharju in Lauttasaari. From 1973 to 1989 cars were banned as part of a transit mall experiment, but car traffic was restored when enforcement proved difficult. Since 1989, drivers cannot go straight from Bulevardi to Eteläesplanadi.

The eastern end of Bulevardi features century-old buildings, while the western end mixes in postwar functionalist apartments and office buildings. The Old Church Park lies north of the street between Annankatu and Yrjönkatu, and opposite Bulevardi 8 is the former Helsinki Finnish School for Girls. South of the street, near Annankatu, you’ll find University of Helsinki premises. The Alexander Theatre sits near Albertinkatu, and the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences operates in the former Helsinki University of Technology building near Hietalahdentori. On the south side, west of Sinebrychoffinkatu, is the Sinebrychoff Art Museum in a two-floor building, with the Sinebrychoff brewery’s old factory buildings nearby, now converted into offices. Both sides of the museum give access to the Sinebrychoff Park.