PRESIDENT KONSTANTIN PÄTS 
AND TALLINN IN THE 1930s 
Spatial effect projects in the city centre in the 1930’s 
Exhibition in the Museum of Estonian Architecture 
at Rotermann's Salt Storage 
28. April – 23. May 2004

The actions of Konstantin Päts, Estonia’s most important statesman, in the latter half of the 1930’s have been evaluated in various ways. The “era of silence” that began 70 years ago with the military coup of 1934 meant a retreat from democracy, but at the same time Konstantin Päts began building a corporative state with a fixed structure and initiated sweeping cultural campaigns for Estonianising names, promoting relations between kindred peoples and beautifying homes. 

Strong heads of state/personalities have been great builders throughout history. Power and architecture stood closer to each other in Europe of the 1930’s than ever before. Mussolini built a new Rome, the megalomaniacal dreams of Adolf Hitler for a new Berlin took shape under the guidance of Albert Speer and Stalin set about implementing the grandiose general plan for Moscow in 1935. 
Konstantin Päts also started personally giving direction to construction activity in the latter half of the 1930’s.  “The façade must be cared for,” he said and this meant the façade in both the literal and the figurative sense.  The first tasks were the reconstructions at Toompea and in Toompea Castle (arch. A. Kotli), but construction activity soon spread to the lower town as well. 

Konstantin Päts issued the decree “Act for Changing and Supplementing the Building Act” on May 4, 1935, according to which the government of the Republic gained the right to issue regulations for designing the appearance of the city streets and squares of Tallinn.  On this basis, the drafting of spatial effect projects began for the streets and squares of central Tallinn, defining the construction boundaries for new buildings (the so called red lines) and the manner of building on sites, the number or stories and height restrictions. 
The Riigivanem (Elder of State) assumed the right to personally approve façade design projects for buildings to be built around Vabaduse plats (Liberty Square) and on the nearby streets by virtue of the “War of Independence Nationwide Memorial Monument Erection Act” of 1936. 
The “Tallinn Construction Site Foundation Act” (1936) established the right to expropriate buildings in the stone building district of Tallinn if they are out of repair and “their owner does not convincingly” agree to begin building a new house over the course of the following two years.  Builders of new houses were motivated by a three-year real estate tax exemption.  The 1937 “Act for Changing and Supplementing the Building Act” created the National Building Committee headed by Konstantin Päts. 
The Ehitaja (Builder) construction company was formed to build national buildings and state tender regulations did not apply to this corporation. 
Close to 40 spatial effect design projects were drafted for central Tallinn.  They included Narva, Tartu and Pärnu maanteed (highways), Mere puiestee (boulevard), Aia, Roosikrantsi, Sakala, Kentmanni, Faehlmanni, Kreutzwaldi, Liivalaia and other streets.  Design projects are stored in several archives.  In addition to approved projects, there are also several versions that did not receive approval and most of these are from later years.  Never before have the spatial effect projects for the city centre been displayed together.  Yet this is extremely interesting historical material that vividly illustrates the trends in construction of the city in the 1930’s.  Moreover, the whole of Tallinn of that time with all its buildings, of which many have disappeared by now, shines through from under the red lines. 

There is no other field of work in which historical continuity is as important as in urban planning, for which reason today’s urban planners and builders should be familiar with the projects presented here. Spatial effect projects were drafted in the city building department that was headed by Herbert Johanson as of 1934. Some projects are also signed by Johan Karu and Harald Arman.History gave Päts barely five years for building up Tallinn but a great deal was accomplished in that interval: buildings were erected on the curve of Pärnu maantee along a long and complete section of street, the Tõnismäe area was built up, Narva maantee was given its present spaciousness, the street referred to as the circular road to the port grew into the Liivalaia Street of today, and others. Regardless of the fact that the War of Independence monument, the new city hall, art museum and many other projects were not built, the city space that we perceive to this day as central Tallinn was created during these same years. 
Year 2004 - 130 years had passed since the birth of Konstantin Päts, 120 years had passed since the birth of Herbert Johanson and 100 years had passed since the birth of Alar Kotli. Yet the round numbers of these anniversaries were not so much the impulse for putting this exhibition together. 

The exhibition of Tallinn in the Konstantin Päts Era set up a question:  how could authoritarianism in city construction be evaluated?  We have not seen firm-handed politics in contemporary city planning. Real estate developers have determined the direction of events and nothing in particular have been indicatived of a situation in which the city have been developing according to a plan. The exhibition Tallinn in the Konstantin Päts Era induced the viewer to think about the continuity of city construction as well as the role of the city and the state in ensuring this continuity. 
“Tallinn as the capital is first of all the city of the nation alongside being a city of homeowners,” was the opinion of the 1930’s.  Do these words not sound surprisingly contemporary? 
(Translated by Peeter Tammisto)