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Vanha Postitalo -The Old Post House Our Story

Vanha Postitalo – The Old Post House – is centrally located on the Päiviönsaari side of the center of Varkaus. The building was built in 1930 and was one of the first larger buildings in Varkaus. As the name implies, the historic building was originally completed to be a post office until the late 1980s.

After that, the building underwent a major renovation and was transformed into a music school in the 1990s. It was owned by the city of Varkaus for over 20 years. However, the building remained unused and after the change of ownership, the building was purchased in October 2017 by Janne Immonen.

– ”Everything started with the dream of buying a whole block of flats or real estate. One morning I just thought I had to buy something now. In the beginning, everyone was frightened. And even my friends were holding me back thinking it was not worth buying the building. But the deals were made when the promise came”, Immonen explains.
– Vanha Postitalo is an old, fine and legendary building in the heart of Varkaus. Many people in Varkaus have memories of the house.
However, the building was in poor condition. Over the years, windows had been broken and patches had been torn down, and the house had not been cleaned up.

At the beginning of 2018, the new owner turned his ideas into actions, even though the budget was not incredibly high. The building had to be revived. At first, the eaves, windows, heating systems, and sewers were renovated.
– I moved into the house myself and set up my office. After the first renovations, inquiries about accommodation began to arrive. The house was brought to life, renovations and construction continued, the facade underwent renovation, and the rooms were equipped with showers and kitchens.
– Since the summer of 2018, there have been continuous residents. Sometimes the house was completely full. There have been hosts from all around the world; Finland, China, Indonesia, Poland, and Latvia.
People were excited, even though some were screaming when I first bought a “worthless” house.
– ”Now it has been praised when Vanha Postitalo – The Old Post Office – has been revived. The house became magnificent”, Immonen rejoices.

Unski Immonen – artist and caretaker

Vanha Postitalo – The Old Post House – in the center of Varkaus, operated by Condo Group Oy, has literally blossomed in the hands of the artist and talker Unski Immonen. The visual artist’s handprint is visible indoors and outdoors.

Twenty paintings by the artist Immonen can be seen in the rooms and corridors. Outside, the red flower bed and the magnificent sunflower rising from it bring color.

Unski Immonen moved back from Helsinki to Varkaus in early 2020 and started at the Old Post House owned by his brother Janne as an artistic caretaker.

After the summer, Unski’s daily work now takes up most of the artist’s work. In July, he received a grant from the Pohjois-Savo Arts Council for artistic work for six months.

-The grant enables and ensures that I can work fully in the arts. The goal in the future is to be a full-time visual artist. Now is the right time to focus on art again.

Unski’s own studio can also be found in the basement of the Old Post House. In the future, more and more interdisciplinary works will be created there with the help of the grant, which will also embed themes from Varkaus and the Old Post House.

-Now I combine traditional painting and digital image in my work. These animation stories are becoming more and more central to my work. These works related to scholarship work are also coming to the rooms and corridors of the Old Post House.

Winged by the grant, Unski hopes to have an exhibition at the Central Office in the neighboring block next year. The Mikkeli Biennial of Contemporary Art, which will be held next summer, will also be busy.

In Varkaus, the artist’s handprint can be seen in the photo frames erected in the water tower’s Torni Café and Hertunranta park area.

The frames are works of art designed and illustrated by Unski. The frames are inspired by the shooting frames in various locations around National Geographic around the world. The idea is that visitors to Varkaus can describe themselves in recognizable places.

The framework project is part of the Future Savo project and aims to increase the positive visibility of Varkaus. Photographs of the Old Warkaus from the Varkaus Museum’s archive have been used to illustrate the frame of the water tower.

Unski and his family have been comfortable in Varkaus since the years of Helsinki.

-Working and living in Helsinki were more stressful. It is much calmer and more creative to work here.

Today, the Old Post House is also a permanent art exhibition, with paintings by a skilled caretaker decorating the corridors and rooms. Guests and visitors can also redeem the paintings for themselves and inquire about them even through the Old Post House website.

The Old Post House is recommended by the visual artist-caretaker to those travelers to Varkaus who cannot afford to stay with friends or relatives. Or for accommodation, for example, during the holidays.