Fabriksgatan 7 - Stiftelsenabo

Fabriksgatan 7

Fabriksgatan 7 
Year of construction: 1862, 1915 and 2023

Fabriksgatan 7 is composed of three buildings from three different centuries – 1862, 1915, and 2023. The property, also known as the Andersson House after the master painter A.G. Andersson, is nowadays home to students at the Åbo Akademi University.

In 1862, master painter Anders Gustav Andersson built a residence on the plot, with a stone foundation and a hipped gable roof. The estate changed owners several times before bricklayer Karl Anton Nieminen bought the property in 1910. In 1915, he built a larger residence, designed by Alexander Nyström, the ground was of plastered brick and the upper floor of wood.

The Åbo Akademi University Foundation Purchases the Property  

After Nieminen, the estate changed owners several times, and in 1921, the housing company Bostadsaktiebolaget Fabriksgatan N:o 7 was founded. The City of Turku gradually purchased shares in the housing company, and by 1995, the city owned the entire property.

In 2000, the City of Turku sold the property to the Åbo Akademi University Foundation. Already before the purchase, the Åbo Akademi University had rented premises in the house. Some of the spaces were used by the Centre of Continuous Learning between 1996 and 2001, and during this time the building was referred to as “the Cultural House.” The foundation renovated the buildings in 2010.

This wooden building is the oldest on the plot, constructed in 1862. Image: Helena Nylund, 2024.
The building, designed by Alexander Nyström, has a ground floor made of plastered brick and an upper floor made of wood. The building was constructed in 1915.

Kristina Fagerlund’s Donation  

In 2020, the foundation received a generous bequest from the Åbo Akademi University alumna and former university lecturer Kristina Fagerlund. She donated a large portion of her assets to the foundation with the aim of providing affordable housing for future students in the academic quarters. The foundation established the Kristina Fagerlund Fund and built a third building on the plot that was completed in 2023. All buildings on Fabriksgatan 7 were equipped with geothermal heating during the construction process.

The Kristina Fagerlund Fund includes 32 apartments ranging in size from 20 to 45 square meters. New rental contracts are only signed with undergraduate students at the Åbo Akademi University.

Source: Väggarna talar (2017) by Lars Berggren and Annette Landen.