The gate to the Sovio house.
Heikki Sovio’s house in the place of the old town hall was built in 1812, soon after the great town fire. Although building two-storey wooden houses was forbidden after the great fire Fredrik Sovelius built a stately two-storey log house imitating a stone building on the most dominant place of Rantakatu and the market square. There is a certain spirit of the Gustavian neo-classicism in this house, and a clear intention of representing a stone building. This has been succeeded in: the closed match boarding of the beginning of the 19th century gives a smooth surface for the facade. The strict symmetry of the facade and the plain simplicity of the windows emphasize the impression of a stone building. The roof is a mansard roof rare in Raahe. Another mansard roof preserved is in Kauppakatu 36. The mansard roof is considered to be a manifestation of the rococo influence. The courtyard of Raahe style has been preserved in Heikki Sovio’s house. One of the rarest gates preserved in its original form in Raahe leads to this yard. At the inner corner of the market square there is the old town detention room.
Sovio house is owned by the town of Raahe. The premises of the town’s cultural office, the town’s banqueting hall and reception rooms, and four conference rooms that are lent to various organizations are located there. The banqueting hall has a wallcovering of the latter part of the 19th century done according to models found in the rooms.