The former Workers' Housing Museum, now called the Workers’ Museum, is located in one of the oldest wooden houses built by the City of Helsinki for its workers. The nine small stove rooms of the museum have been decorated as homes from different time periods, with interiors that shed light on the joys and sorrows of working class families in 20th century Helsinki.
The residents rush to work, cook food, smuggle spirits, cower from air raids, do homework, rest on their spring beds and celebrate family events. The museum experience is enhanced further by the different soundscapes of the wooden building and the stories of residents of different ages, which the visitors can listen to on their own phone. All the residents are real people who have lived in the house at different times.
The museum displays both original furniture of the residents and objects selected from the museum collections. The decors of the stove rooms reflect changes in housing in the 20th century – oil lamps were replaced with electric lights, and extendable beds with spring beds. Nearly all homes have a sewing machine, but the gramophone and radio were rare novelties at first.
You can explore the Workers’ Museum without a guide. Free public guided tours are also available daily, at 11.30 and 15.30 in Finnish and at 13.30 in English. Tours in Swedish are available on Wednesdays at 14.30. Guided tours for more than five people can be booked on the City Museum's website.
The Workers’ Museum also includes the Kirstari room for 8 people, which serves as a meeting place for children's groups and communities in the area during the museum's opening hours. For the little ones in the family, there's also a brochure featuring the cat Kissa Kemppainen with fun activities for children. The museum shop offers a range of nostalgic products that you can purchase as gifts or to add to your home.
The exhibition is produced by Anna Finnilä, and the exhibition architecture has been designed by Bianca Barman and Rosemarie Schnitzler (R Schnitzler Architecture), with graphic design by Tero Juuti, soundscapes and audio guidance by Aapo and Antti Soulanto (Äänitoimisto A), and digital presentations by Robin Kanerva (Reveel).
The doors open on the Night of the Arts – live music with a gramophone
The opening will be celebrated on Thursday 14 August starting from 11.00, and visitors will be able to explore the stories of the old building from the cellar to the attic. The gramophone artist Dj Old Crank, who will be playing shellac gramophone records on a hand-cranked gramophone from 17.00 to 20.00, provides atmosphere.
Worker’s Museum
Kirstinkuja 4, Alppila
Open from 14 August to 2 November 2025
Wed-Sun 11.00–17.00
Free entry
