History

• 1910: Finnish Government assigned the state-own forests around Hyytiälä as a practice area for forestry students, and the first students came to Hyytiälä. Accommodation was arranged in nearby houses, e.g. Kallenautio Inn
• 1911-12: buildings of the old courtyard completed
• 1935: the planting of memorial spruce stand to celebrate the 25th anniversary
• 1948: the station was connected to the electric network
• 1959: Institute-building with auditorium, laboratories and offices was completed
• 1977: year-round use of Hyytiälä was enabled as the buildings A, B and C together with machinery halls were completed
• 1995: SMEAR II was completed
• 2010 - 2017: station belonged to the Department of Forest Sciences
• 2018: station became an infrastructure unit at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry
• 2023: new buildings replace the brick houses from 70’s

The historical buildings of Hyytiälä are an important part of Finnish cultural heritage, and have been been conserved by the National Board of Antiquities and Historical Monuments. They are exceptional to serve still in their original purpose.

Building of the old courtyard was commenced in autumn 1911. It provided the station with a large student accommodation building, a kitchen with a dining hall, a house for hired hand, and a pair of buildings for storage and maintenance. The dinner bell in the middle was not part of the original plan by the architects Ernst Theodor Granstedt and Carl Ricardo Björnberg. It was added by suggestion of contemporary forestry officer A. Benjamin Helander. The architectural design of old courtyard represents romantic nationalism.