The renovation of the building at 16 Kotzebue Street was led by the City of Tallinn, the Tallinn City Museum and the Tallinn City Property Department. Download images of the building and outdoor area from\u00a0<\/strong>HERE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.linnamuuseum.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/MEie-uus-maja.jpg\")
<\/a>The interior of the building (once built as a dwelling) has now been extensively renovated, with the surviving original interior design elements restored. A new modern ventilation system has been installed. The exterior walls are just as bright white as the interior walls. Inspired by the name of the location, the floors on the second level have a herringbone parquet, and the stone floor on the first level is also in a herringbone pattern. The only surviving original wooden staircase with balustrade and handrail connects the first and second levels. The doors and handrails of historic Kalamaja houses have been drawn on the building\u2019s interior doors and walls: you can recognise places like Salme 12, Salme 25, Linda 9 and T\u00f6\u00f6stuse 23. At the end of September, the Kalamaja Community Museum, a branch of Tallinn City Museum, will open in the building.<\/p>\n<\/a>Kotzebue 16 is one of the few functionalist buildings built in the Kalamaja area in the 1930s that has remained to this day. The building was completed in 1934 according to the design by architect Herbert Johanson, and the family of Hans Einberg, professor of mechanics at the Technical University, lived there for 10 years. After the bombing and burning in March 1944, Valge Luik became a densely packed dwelling for seven families, some even living in the garage. \u201cOne room with only one window had to fit a cooker, a sink, a bookshelf, cupboards and just one bed for two people. There was a communal toilet on the ground floor and a laundry room in the basement,\u201d recalled one former resident from memories shared with the Kalamaja Museum.<\/p>\n<\/a>In 1985, the building was converted into a museum, when present-day P\u00f5hja-Tallinn and part of Haabersti were called the Kalinin region, and a branch of Tallinn City Museum \u2013 \u201cM. I. Kalinin in Tallinn\u201d functioned here. In 1988, a memorial room was opened on the second floor in memory of Evald Aava, the creator of the first Estonian opera, \u201cThe Vikings\u201d. A year earlier, an open storage room for toys had been opened on the first floor, which grew into the Tallinn City Museum\u2019s Doll Museum, later renamed the Children\u2019s Museum. From 2014 until September 2018, when the building was closed for renovation, it housed the Kalamaja children\u2019s museum Miiamilla.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>The building was renovated by EVIKO AS and EVIKO Insenerib\u00fcroo, designed by Eesti Ehitusprojekt, constructed by Insenerib\u00fcroo Jaan M\u00f5ttus, the facade and exterior areas were designed by architect Helle-Triin Hansum\u00e4e and the interior design was created by Andres Labi and Janno Roos from Ruumilabor O\u00dc. Graphic design for the museum is by Refleks O\u00dc.<\/p>\n