History of Ilkko Conference Centre (continued)

The Qveflanders sold Ilkko to Tampere’s Parishes in 1952. The parishes purchased 11 hectares of land, the main building, gardener’s building, administrative building, vegetable cellar, granite potato cellar, woodshed, weekend hut by Pitkäjärvi Lake and the storehouse. The parishes established an old people’s home at Ilkko from 1953-1966. The home was closed down in 1966 due to the tightening regulations of the fire department.

Ilkko was made into a conference centre for the parishes in 1966 and Wanha Villa remained as the heart of the centre. There was an outhouse in the same yard that continued to be used as a summer home for the elderly. The outhouse was demolished at the end of the 1960s and a summer home resembling a hut was constructed on the same site. The hut was demolished in 1989 to make way for Eerola House.

The operations of the Conference Centre were rapidly expanded and in 1973 a dining room and assembly hall as well as the manager’s residence were constructed as extensions to Wanha Villa. Mattila House was completed in 1978 as a conference venue and Eerola House was completed in 1989 for the needs of diaconal work with the elderly and the disabled. In 1968, a log sauna was constructed by the natural spring water pond for the use of the Centre’s guests. The gingerbread house known as Tuula’s Cottage has been renovated as the House of Silence. 

There are plans for the construction of a new kitchen and dining room for more than 100 diners, and a lane of birch trees has already been felled to make way for the building. A potato cellar that was found on the block of land by chance has been completed into the cosy Cellar Chapel (2005).

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