Every design for Kauniainen

Kauniainen is known for its villas, its gardens and the lowest municipal tax rate in Finland. The town is bilingual, with Finnish and Swedish side by side, and its Swedish name, Grankulla, means spruce hill, which is why a red squirrel holding a spruce cone sits on the coat of arms. The Finnish name came later, from a homestead called Kauniais.

What makes Kauniainen unusual is that it is a whole town sitting inside another one. It is enclaved by Espoo and is the smallest municipality in Finland by area, yet it runs its own affairs. It began as a business venture: the company AB Grankulla bought farmland, divided it into generous plots and sold them on, and a villa community grew up around the railway station. The first villas rose on the northern shore of Gallträsk, on land bought from the Glims estate, which lives on in the Talomuseo Glims. After the Ice Age, Kasavuori and Gränkull, the hill with the water tower, were tiny islets in the sea.

Anyone who grew up here will find their childhood on this map: the walk round Gallträsk, the climb up Kasavuori and the train pulling into the station on the way home.