Toivoniemen sauna

Rental use or for members only or for customers only

The Toivoniemi public sauna was a meeting place and centre of community life for the people of Oulu from 1955 to 1989. The basement of the building originally housed a heating plant that heated the point-block apartment buildings west of Toivoniemi, and sauna operations began in the premises soon after construction. In addition to washing facilities, the sauna offered its visitors laundry services, cupping treatments, and refreshing lemonade sales, and it employed saunattendants representing their own profession. Today, the part that previously served as the booking section of the sauna still functions as the housing company's sauna. The spaces that served as the general men's and women's sections have been rented out, and, for example, a recording studio has been built in them. The town plan for Toivoniemi was drawn up by Alvar Aalto, but it did not include the sauna building, which was decided to be built in the area afterwards. The Toivoniemi town plan was also classified as a regionally valuable built cultural environment in 2015.