I discovered some grand and ornate entrances whilst wandering the streets of Helsinki in September.
The first photograph is of the Pohjola Insurance building on Aleksanterinkatu. Pohjola translates to 'North' in English. The building also originally housed another insurance company, Kullervo, and is made of fire-resistant stone. Nordea has owned the building since 1972.
In researching the building, I learned that Kullervo was a hero in Finnish and Estonian mythology, said to be able to control fire.
My eye caught the following sentence in the Wikipedia article about Kullervo, and I chuckled at who it describes well in the world right now: "He showed great potential, but being raised badly, he became an ignorant, implacable, immoral and vengeful man."
The second photograph is of an entrance to the Lundqvist building, also on Aleksanterinkatu, a former department store that now houses a Lyonnaise restaurant, Bouchon Carême, on the first floor.
The figures flanking the entrance are of Spinning and Hunting, designed by the Finnish artist Robert Stigell. I believe the ground floor was occupied by an ecologically-minded fashion boutique, Glasshouse Helsinki, until about 2022 (based on their final Instagram posts). I didn't notice what occupied it now.
The third photograph is of Salama House, also on Aleksanterinkatu. From my quick research, it appears that the insurance company it was named after no longer exists, and Wörks Agency now occupies it. They commissioned photographer Angel Gil to document the building's interior.