PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Historic types of wallpaper and decorative schemes of interiors
community lived most commonly in wooden blocks of flats in
neighbourhood areas surrounding the city centre. 164
With the creation of the independent Estonian Republic in
1918, architecture started playing a considerably more varied
role than before. 165 The main architectural trend in the 1920s
was Traditionalism, which derived from German Heimatkunst
and was closely related to Nordic Classicism. This was also true
for interior design. For example, the historical photo of the interior
of the Oru Castle, used by the Estonian head of state Konstantin
Päts in the 1930s, shows a luxurious tripartite scheme
commonly used in German-speaking countries at the end of the
19th century. (Fig. 60) A similar setting, which almost completely
survived under a layer of cardboard, was found in Roopa 11 in
Tallinn. (Fig. 61) A newspaper used as lining paper dated back to
1929. Although such finds are scarce, they reveal a long-lasting
tradition of using a tripartite decorative scheme in important
public and middle-class interiors.
By the beginning of the 1930s, a new style, Functionalism,
became popular with a wide range of people, from top architects
to builders. 166 While Functionalism was considered too cold and
raw, it was frequently combined with classical decorative elements.
Thus typical Functionalist rooms in Estonia were decorated
in a manner resembling art deco interiors. 167 An important
feature of 1930s interiors was the rational arrangement of furniture
and simplified decoration, which also meant that walls were
covered with modest lightly patterned wallpapers. 168 Wallpapers
in Functionalist interiors were commonly combined with narrow
borders, which lined the upper edge of wallpaper. The borders
usually had geometric patterns in strong contrasting tones.
Since samples of historic wallpapers have so far been taken from
random parts of walls, not many early borders have been found.
However, the interior architect Tiiu Lõhmus has a fine collection
of wallpapers and borders dating to the 1930s. The wallpapers
164
Helme and Kangilaski, Lühike eesti kunsti ajalugu, 79.
165
Kalm, Eesti 20. sajandi arhitektuur, 262.
166
Ibid., 156.
167
Kodres, Ilus maja, kaunis ruum, 218.
168
Kalm, Eesti 20. sajandi arhitektuur, 143.
100