As attested by Henry of Livonia in his chronicles, Tallinn’s prehistoric seaport site was known as early as 1191 – 1196 A.D. to Bishop Meinhard who baptized Livonians. The route of Pärnu maantee (Pärnu Highway) that heads due south from the port of Tallinn has been unclear for some time as located on lands that belonged to the city of Tallinn.
The location of the southbound road that starts from the area of Toompea and the Port of Tallinn in its segment running from Tondi city district to the city district of Nõmme was unknown for a long time because after the Livonian War during the times of mapping, the borders of the city’s could not be established as pertaining to the area between Lake Ülemiste and Nõmme city district. From the area of Tõnismägi, the road ran “along shallow, watery, bosky and swampy hayfields”. From the third verst onwards, the rather sizeable area between the western bank of Lake Ülemiste and the city districts of Tondi and Mustamäe featured sand dunes ranging for a number of square kilometers.
The settlement history of the Tondi area is one of the more complex in Tallinn. The road from the port crossed the future city and exited the city via Sepa street i.e. Harju street, ran across Tõnismägi and onwards towards the district of Pääsküla. After its third kilometer, a fork of the road turned right and ran its course to Duntenhofn, founded prior to 1674 by Jobst Dunte I as located in the immediate vicinity of the crossing of today’s streets of Tondi and Tammsaare tee. From there, the same fork headed southwest across the moors to the present Nõmme center; this location was also reached by the road that ran straight from the third kilometer. The forks joined in the vicinity of the present day Nõmme Culture House and proceeded towards Pääsküla.
The Sprinckthal summer manor complex was built at the corner of the present road of Linnu tee; the main building has been preserved to this day. Sprinckthal (Spring Dale) refers to an excessively damp area. F. Eurich’s detailed maps from 1880 convincingly show that the areas of Tondi contained a multitude of moors and a number of drainage canals. Regardless of centuries of drainage efforts, a surprisingly large number of creeks with natural banks has also persisted. Some of the waters in the Tondi area headed to a branch of the Mustjõe creek.
Pictured: Main building of Sprinckthal summer manor at Tondi 42
The building of Tondi military campus commenced in 1910. Production of Baltika Brick Factory, located next to the present hippodrome, was used as construction material. To transport bricks and other construction materials, the available fortress railroad was used as running from the former Balti Cotton Factory to the present area of Ädala street and on across Paldiski maantee (Paldiski Highway) and Kristiine hayfields to the barracks at Tondi street. The Tondi barracks belonged to the artillery regiment of Peter the Great’s naval fortress.
Another well-known summer manor was situated opposite the now renovated Tondi barracks. At the close of the 18th century, this manor house was established at the end of the road of Tondi tee by Alderman Jobst Dunte. The summer manor was demolished in the 1970s and today only a part of the park, the merest signs of a past pond and the gardener’s cottage are all that’s left. The summer manor that stood on a ridge named Tondi Hill lent its name to Tondi street as well. In 1876, for example, the street was officially called Duntenstrasse.
Pictured: View of Tondi barracks in the 1920s. Tondi summer manor still visible on the left next to the street of Tondi tee (Photo: State Archives of Estonia)
The name of the street of Tondi derives from the name of Tallinn’s Alderman Jobst Dunte. Until early 20th century, the street bore a German name of Duntenstraße (Дунтенская ул. in Russian). In 1921–1950 the street was named Tondi and in 1950–1990 Aleksandr Matrossov (Matrossov in short). On August 3, 1990 the name Tondi was restored to the street.
The building located at Tondi 1 (former Matrossovi 1) in Tallinn was completed in 1963. In 1956, Tallinn Firefighting Association approached the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR and filed a petition for the erection of a new firefighting building that would assemble the plants for manufacture and repairs of firefighting equipment. The petition was granted.
October 28, 1958 marked a memorable day for members of Tallinn Firefighting Association: firefighters gathered for laying of the corner stone of their new headquarters at Matrossovi 1 (Tondi 1). The fire department’s building at Matrossovi 1 was designed by Kaarel Pedak. Construction of the new building as well as the on-site brigade was lead for the first few years by foreman Roman Sepp, later by Johannes Lohk. Construction was planned in three stages. Stage I – repair shops block with administrative facilities, stage II – duty garage with staff rooms and facilities for a firefighting school, stage III – separate training hall and party hall with ancillary premises. The Association staffed its own construction brigade of 15-20 construction workers.
Stage I construction of the building was completed in 1963. Completion of stage I of the new firefighting headquarters united firefighters in Tallinn into an even more coherent family.
The Association’s rapid development and expansive activity range demanded quick completion of the subsequent construction stages; however, the first version of the technical design no longer adhered to the requirements of the era. To this day, the building has not been built as it was originally designed.
Picture: The building of Tallinn Firefighting Association, Matrossovi 1, Tallinn; J.Vaarmann “Rinnutsi Leekides” (Chest First into Flames)
As Estonia regained its independence, membership of Tallinn Firefighting Association decreased sharply. Brigades that before operated at all of the bigger enterprises (Tarbeklaas, Punane Koit, Balti Manufaktuur, Põhjala, Standard, Tegur, Ilmarine, KIT, Volta, Klaverivabrik, Vineeri Mööblikombinaat, Estoplast, VK Trust, Piimakombinaat, Norma, Tselluloosi- ja paberikombinaat and many more) were eliminated as the companies disappeared. In 2007, the Tondi 1 Firefighting Commando stopped sending out brigades due to shortage of money.
Today, Tallinn Firefighting Association still operates in the building at Tondi 1. Next to Tallinn Firefighting Association, the building also accommodates Tondi Training Center (Kustutaja OÜ), Tondi Tulekaitse OÜ, Tondi Autoteenindus OÜ and many other undertakings. Tondi Hand Wash opened its doors in 1991, at that being the first hand car wash in Estonia. Throughout the years, owners of the Tondi Hand Wash trademark have changed and today the trademark belongs to the enterprise RKM Team OÜ that also operates in the Tondi 1 building.
We are pleased to announce that Tondi street construction works are completed and the street is open again. Tondi Käsipesula is open on Mon to Fri 8:00 to 18:00. All of you are most welcome!
Related to reconstruction of the tram line No. 4, the area surrounding Tondi street is under road repairs as from May 12. When coming to Tondi Hand Wash, please note that traffic is temporarily reorganized in the road segment from Vineeri street to Kohila street. See the map for more detailed information. Taking ...