Kui me abiellusime, siis meie pulmavalsiks oli Smilersi “Käime katuseid mööda”. Enne Marekiga tutvumist ei arvanud ma Smilersist midagi, aga kas te olete näiteks selle laulu sõnu kuulanud? Mina hakkasin siin kuulama ja ajal, mil paljude laulude sõnad on “boom-boom”, “oopa-oopa”, “pencil-apple”, pole ime, et selle laulu sõnad meile hinge on pugenud.

Käime katuseid mööda
Lähme kolame pööningute peal
Nad ei tea mida mõelda
Need kes pole iial käinud seal
Näitad meile suunda
Vana tuulelipp
Siia ülesse kuulda ei ole midagi
Käime katuseid mööda
Tule lähme turnime tornides
Lähme katsume pilvi
Lähme värvime taeva siniseks
Ühed tahavad palju, teised rohkem veel
Mõned tahavad kõike
Nad ei kõnni katustel

Eile olime me Marekiga kutsutud Barons hotelli (LINK) vanalinnas ja see meie jaoks tähendusega laul sai hoopis teise tähenduse. Kui ma meie sviidi aknal kardinad eest tõmbasin, siis mulle tunduski korraks, et me käime katuste peal ja kolame pööningute peal. Viiendalt korruselt avanes fantastiline vaade vanalinna katustele, kaugemal eemal paistmas suursugused kirikute tornid ja “vana tuulelipp”. Meil oli aga aega vaid teineteise jaoks.  Kui te olete väikelapse vanemad, siis te saate aru kui väärtuslik selline väikene luksulik põgenemine argipäevast tegelikult on.

Mis puutub hotelli, siis hotell on tõeliselt väärikas. Suursugune ja pika ajalooga. Te ju teate, et mulle meeldivad vanad asjad ja ajalugu? Nii et pole ime, et see hotell võitis mu südame. Siiani oli mu vaieldamatu lemmik CRU, kuid peale eilset minipuhkust olen ma kahevahel.  Mulle vist meeldis Barons grammike rohkem.

Kinnistul, kus asub praegu Barons Hotell, oli algselt kaks ristuvas asendis keskaegset hoonet – üks neist ait. Üle-eelmisel sajandil paiknes siin tuntud ajaloouurija Heino Gustavsoni andmetel  Revalia- nimeline õllevabrik.

12. mail 1911. aastal tegi Riia – Vene Kommertspank ettepaneku  ehitada  4-korruseline kivimaja mansardiga Suure- ja Väikese Mihhailovskaja nurgale. Projekti autoriks oli poola päritolu vene arhitekt Aleksander Jaron. Tema lahendus oli historitsismi ja juugendi piirimail nn. uusklassitsism. Esialgselt asusid esimesel korrusel kauplused, teisel pangaruumid, ülemistel korrustel olid suured elukorterid. Poolkaarne tammepuust käsipuudega trepp ning seda kaunistav puidust palja ülakehaga naisefiguur valmisid baltisaksa arhitekti Ernst Kühnerti ning inglase Paul Meyeri jooniste alusel 1922. aasta ümberehituse käigus, mil majas asus Eestimaa Tööstuse ja Kaubanduse pank. Samal ajal rajati keldrisse suur soomusuksega varahoidla ning paigaldati ka messingvõrgust piirdekonstruktsioonidega lift, mis esialgu sõitis esimeselt korruselt kolmandale.

Pöördukse sai maja 1932. aastal, mil hoones tegutses Tallinna Linnapank. Kokku on hoones aastate jooksul tegutsenud 13 erinevat panka.

70-ndatel aastatel leidis majas aset ka üks väike „häving“ – nimelt tassisid poisikesed 4. ja 5. korruse elanikele mõeldud väikese lifti maast laeni pappkaste täis ning süütasid need põlema, lift sõitis keldrisse. Kuna suits tõusis liftišahti kaudu pööningule, ronisid tuletõrjujad kogu oma varustusega esmalt sinna. Nende askelduste tõttu kaotatud aja tulemusena hävis väike lift. Praegu on vana väikse lifti asemel kaasaegne klaasist lift mis sõidab esimeselt korruselt viiendale. Et edaspidi huligaanid sisehoovi pahandust tegema ei pääseks, paigaldati kangialuse ette metallist värav, mis tol ajal maksis väikeauto Zaporozhetsi hinna.

Huvi korral saate maja ajaloost lähemalt lugeda SIIT

Meie ööbisime Barons sviidis, mille esimeseks suureks plussiks oli nagu te aru saite imeline vaade. Teiseks suureks eeliseks saun. Kuna Marek oli tööl, kasutasin mina linna saamiseks ühistransporti, kõige pealt jalutasin ma Ussipesast Tuula bussipeatusse ja sealt liikusin ma edasi rongiga, aga ilm oli isegi minu jaoks jäiselt tuuline. Nii oli mul veel õhtulgi külm kontides ja ei olnud midagi paremat soojast saunast.

Hommikul ärkasime me enda kohta hilja – pool kaheksa- väljapuhanud ja värsked, kaks lapsevaba hommikut inimestele, kes on harjunud kell seitse ärkama üsna intensiivse “äratuskella” peale, kes “älka üles, älka üles” hüüab, oli see väikene minipuhkus nagu puhkus paradiisis. Luksuslik ja vaid meile kahele.

//This Friday me and my husband were invited to a hotel in old town of Tallinn – Barons hotel (LINK). When I moved to Tallinn in 2004 I worked in Old Town and every day I walked by this hotel, dreaming of staying there. But it looked so fancy. Yesterday, 12 years later I finally got to stay there. With my husband. And the hotel was fancy, like from old movies, the moment I walked in the doors I felt like I went back in time – everything was so elegant, so charming. so stylish. I love history and old buidlings, so no wonder Barons hotel got to my heart.

The lot of the present Barons hotel was initially occupied by two medieval buildings, one of which was a warehouse. According to the renowned historian Heino Gustavson here was a brewery called “Revalia”. Gustavson wrote in 1995: “A brewery of the Pfaff family, later known as “Revalia” brewery was started in 1832 on the corner of Suur-Karja and Väike-Karja streets. Now it is a bank. The owner of the brewery G. W. Pfaff was a local merchant. In 1858 the production was moved across the street to a former small brewery which was rebuilt and extended. A design plan from the beginning of the 19th century, which is drawn on a tracing cloth containing fine cotton threads, has on the upper left corner a text in Russian (rough translation): “We ask for the permission to build on the basis of this design plan a 4-storey stone building with a mansard roof into the plot of land belonging to the Riga Commercial Bank, portals No 2/7 and plot No 476 on the corner of Suur-Mihhailovskaja and Väike-Mihhailovskaja streets in the 4th part of the city of Revel”.” Thus, on 12 May 1911 the Russian Commercial Bank commissioned the construction of a 4-storey stone building with a mansard roof on the corner of Suur-Mihhailovskaja and Väike-Mihhailovskaja streets. The building was designed by a Russian architect of Polish origin Aleksander Jaron. The building was designed in the neoclassical style – in between the historical and Jugend styles. A. Jaron won the first prize in the 1912 competition of the design of the city hall. Unfortunately the project was never materialised. His other works of the beginning of the 20th century include the buildings at 15 Estonia Avenue and 50 Narva Road. The ground floor of the building was occupied by shops; the bank’s premises were on the first floor and large flats on the upper floors. A semi-spiral staircase with an oak rail decorated by a wooden sculpture of a woman were designed by a Baltic German architect Ernst Kühnert and an Englishman Paul Meyer and built during the renovation works of 1922. At that time, the building belonged to the Estonian Bank of Industry and Commerce. At the same time a large vault with armoured door was built in the basement and a lift with brass net boarding was installed. The lift took passengers from the ground floor to the second floor. A revolving door was installed in 1932 when the building was occupied by Tallinn City Bank. A total of 13 banks have operated in the building over years. The building suffered a slight damage in the 1970ies – some boys filled the lift with cardboard boxes, lit the boxes and sent the lift to the basement. Smoke from burning boxes rose through the lift shaft to the attic and the fire fighters who had hurried to the scene climbed first upstairs, losing a lot of valuable time. Luckily, only the lift was destroyed. To prevent delinquents from getting in the inner yard the gateway was closed with a metal gate that cost the price of the smallest Russian car of the time – Zaporozhets. In the mid-1970ies there was a tobacco shop in the Väike-Karja Street side of the building. In 1977-78 the renovating works started in the buildings. The residents of the 4th and 5th floors were forced to move out with strong backing of the government. The moving out revealed many odd facts – a former bank employee had painted the oak parquet with red ship paint. One of the residents, a son of the then first deputy chairman of the council of ministers tried to dismantle two Art Nouveau style fireplaces and “deposit” them in his home. Sometime after the 2nd World War the oak rail of the staircase was covered with black oven varnish. In order to avoid such things, the building and most of its interior details are today protected under heritage conservation.In the course of roof repair works in 1982 interesting documents were found under the wind shelter. Fortunately the workers did not throw them away and delivered the documents to the author. These were banking records from the period from 1897 to 1910. Rumour has it that secret documents were hidden in the walls and that the safe in the wall between the restaurant and the office of the last bank manager also contains secret documents. The key to the safe has not been found by today. The last owner of the building before Barons Hotel was Eesti Ühispank and the building was unoccupied for more than four years. In 2001 the building was bought by the operator of Barons Hotel. The owner company is of Estonian and British origin. After a year, the renovation of the building commenced. Barons Hotel was opened for customers in May 2003 and the official opening festivities were held on 1 October 2003.

We got to stay in the Barons suite on 5th floor. The view that we had from our apartments windows was something to die for. The romantic old roofs of Old Town of Tallinn. majestetic towers of churches…I think I spent half of the time sitting on the window admiring the view. When you visit Tallinn and want to experience the old town from a different angle (and if you like old buildings) Barons hotel is definately the place to stay. I loved it and would like to move in.

The suite also has a sauna, which was a big plus yesterday. It was freezing cold outside and I was freezing as hell when I got to the hotel, so sauna was the perfect way to get some warmth in me. And me and my husband both are crazy about sauna, but don´t have one in our house.

I would like to thank Barons hotel from the bottom of my heart for this wonderful minivacation. Some time for only me and my husband was exactly what we needed. I feel fresh and ready for a new work week.