| Lyytikkälä farm |
| Opening times |
| Getting there |
| History of the farm |
| The yard |
| The farmhouse |
| The sheds |
| The stables |
| The cowshed |
The farmhouse
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The present main building, or farmhouse, was built in 1867 when the property was owned by Vilppu Lyytikäinen. According to oral tradition, the master builder was a man named Siipenperk, who had taken part in the construction of Suomenniemi Church, which was completed in 1866. The high status of the master builder is shown by the fact that he was paid 2 marks a day, twice the wage of the local building workers. The largest room in the farmhouse is the tupa, or main room, which covers almost half the floor area. The large oven is to the right of the doorway, in the middle section of the wall. The oven type is a design typical of Southern Finland. The dampers could be opened and shut with rods hanging from the ceiling. There are fixed benches along two of the walls in the main room, and the beds are located along the rear wall. The sons of the household, the farm-hands and temporary guests slept in this room. In the summer, they slept in the sheds. In the corner between the oven and the wall was “Mikko’s bed” named after Mikko Halinen (ca. 1850-1930), a long-term farm-hand at Lyytikkälä. His name is also associated with other places on the property. The “front bedroom” at the rear of the entrance space or porch room served the master and mistress of the household, and the present-day parlour, the former “back bedroom” was for the daughters. This room was renamed the parlour, or sitting-room, when it was no longer used as a bedroom and it became the most valued room in the house. The interiors of the front bedroom and the parlour have survived almost unchanged since the beginning of the twentieth century. Opposite the main room on the other side of the entrance space is the larder room. This is a storeroom that was not used for cooking. There is a square hatch in the floor where dirt could be swept under the floor. The farmhouse has six-paned windows. In the living rooms the upper panes are separated by a wide moulding with coloured glass in its openings. These pieces of glass are probably from the same shipment as for the stained-glass windows of Suomenniemi Church. Part of the previous farmhouse from the early 19th century survives in altered function. The present woodshed is the bedroom of the older house. Until the 1960s the old tupa served as a barn on the upper lane. |
 Interior of the farmhouse has largely remained unaltered. Photo: Matti Huuhka
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