Do you ever answer to cold calls trying to sell something to you? Sometimes it pays off to do so. I was able to visit the inside of a beautiful Art Nouveau building in the Design District.

Unless you know somebody or “have business to do”, it’s hard to see the inside of those Art Nouveau buildings in Helsinki. Many of them are private or used by company offices that do business in fields that I hardly venture into, like investment, IT, arts or who knows what they are actually dealing behind the carved doors.

At least I start to grasp the “intricacies” of Real Estate. Owning such a house does call for regular renovations, but as the rental prices are “handsome”, one can enjoy a comfortable life, I assume. What I find sad, however, is that the inner courtyards are generally very “functional”. No tree or anything green, just plain concrete for parking lots. This is something I liked about Berlin when I lived there, lots of green in the yards and trees in the streets.

What I do love are the old wooden elevators with their iron doors, they are just too cute. They have two doors, the outer iron frame and the inner wooden door.  So, all in all, a really nice outcome for answering to a cold call.