Mikonkatu, 17 (Helsinki)

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A continental-style Hotel Fennia was built by a group of entrepreneurs from Helsinki to replace the Hotel de Post. The opening ceremony was held on 16th December,1899. But after only a few years in business Fennia went bankrupt. Under new ownership in 1909, the hotel business began to thrive again. Renovation work on the hotel got underway and a conservatory was built in the courtyard, soon to become the meeting point for Helsinki's high society. An eight-metre tall illuminated fountain adorned the garden. The café furniture was made of African walnut. The building was renamed the Grand Hotel Fennia. An artist called Henry Ericsson painted oriental
frescos in the dining room in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
The co-operative retailer Elanto started to manage the restaurant in the 1960s and the place was simply renamed Ravintola Fennia, or the Fennia Restaurant. In March 1969, one of the first restaurant roulettes in Finland was opened in Fennia. The stake was 50 Finnish pennies. Over the following decades, the restaurant's name changed several times. It was known as 'the Happy New Fennia', 'the New Fennia', 'Metropol' and 'Dancing Fennia'. Nowadays the building operates under the title The Casino Grand Helsinki.