Korkkitehdas

The cork factory of Oy Wicander & Larson Ab was designed by Turku city architect Arthur Kajanus in 1893. The street facade of the three-storey rendered brick building follows the Neo-Renaissance character of the residential buildings of the era. The cork factory plot was transferred in 1984 through exchange from the City of Turku to the Finnish state.

In the 1990s a courthouse for Turku, designed by Architectural Firm Pekka Pitkänen ky, was built north-west of the cork factory. The cork factory was comprehensively renovated by the same firm for the use of the courts. The Southwest Finland Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) has on its own initiative initiated proceedings to protect the former cork factory under the Act on the Protection of the Built Heritage (498/2010).

The National Board of Antiquities has issued a statement on the matter on 13 January 2017 (MV/91/05.01.01/2014). The ELY Centre made a positive protection decision on 1 December 2017 (VARELY3937/2014). The decision acquires legal force only once confirmed by the Ministry of the Environment.