Raua

The district of Raua (red) in the Tallinn district of Kesklinn (yellow)

Raua (in German " Eisen ") is a district ( Estonian asum ) of the Estonian capital Tallinn . It is located in the Kesklinn district ( city center ).

Description and history

Raua has 5,060 inhabitants (as of May 1, 2010).

Raua lies between the two major arterial roads to Tartu ( Tartu maantee ) and Narva ( Narva maantee ). The Raua tänav ("iron street") runs through the district . Numerous other streets in the district are named after metals .

The first residential buildings on the two arterial roads were built early in Tallinn's city history. A permanent development of the entire district did not come about until the 18th century. Most of them were small, single-storey houses that were reminiscent of Russian village architecture.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, more and more middle-class houses were built in the area. It was a two-story wooden building that offered enough living space for families. Three to four-story stone houses were built later. In the 1930s, modern, functionalist residential buildings were added. The construction of wooden houses was forbidden for reasons of fire protection.

Numerous renowned Estonian architects such as Otto Schott , Artur Perna , Karl Burman , Eugen Habermann , Eugen Sacharias , Edgar Kuusik and Herbert Johanson took part in the expansion of the district.

In the 1960s and 1970s, more modern apartments in four-story buildings were added. They were finished to a high standard and were mainly intended for the Soviet-Estonian nomenclature .