Hotel Ilves (officially Sokos Hotel Ilves) is an 18-storey hotel in the centre of

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. It was designed by architect Maunu Kitunen and was completed in 1986. The hotel has a total of 336 guest rooms and five restaurants. At tall, the hotel is one of the tallest buildings in Finland outside

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

metropolitan area. Hotel Ilves is part of the

S Group The S Group (, ) is a Finnish retailing cooperative organisation with its head office in Helsinki. Founded in 1904, it consists of 19 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in addition to SOK, ''Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta'' ...

Sokos Hotels Sokos Hotels is a Finnish hotel chain. It is the largest hotel chain in Finland, with a total of 48 hotels in 30 different cities and municipalities. Forty-seven hotels are located in Finland and one in Tallinn, Estonia. Sokos Hotels is a part ...

chain.

History

The S Group, a large Finnish

co-operative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

company, first proposed the idea of building a new hotel in central

in the 1970s. The site chosen was an old redbrick baize-factory situated near the

Tammerkoski Tammerkoski is a channel of rapids in Tampere, Finland. The city of Tampere is located between two lakes, Näsijärvi and Pyhäjärvi (Tampere region), Pyhäjärvi. The difference in altitude between these two is and the water flows from Näsij ...

rapids. Two redbrick buildings and the base of an old factory chimney next to the hotel are the only surviving remnants of the large industrial premises. In 1983 the S-group's design team travelled to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

to see how some of the world's most famous hotels, such as the

Grand Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vac ...

, Marriott and Hilton, were built. The project architect Maunu Kitunen completed the design in March 1983, creating a highly visible landmark in the centre of the city. The architect's idea for the shape of the building came from a matchbox.Raimo Seppälä, Valovoimainen Ilves, The hotel was completed in 1986 and named Ilves (lynx) following a public competition.

References

External links

* * (in English) Clintoninilvescommon

{{Authority control

Ilves Tampereen Ilves, commonly known as Ilves, (; Finnish language, Finnish for "Eurasian lynx, Lynx") is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Tampere. They play in the Liiga at the Nokia Arena (Tampere), Nokia Arena. The colors of Ilves, ...

Hotel buildings completed in 1986 Skyscrapers in Finland Skyscraper hotels Kyttälä

History

See also

References

External links