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There is no information about the initial owner of this private residence, located in the centre of Terijoki in the references. However, we can presume, that he was a rather important mister: his house was the best one in Terijoki. This building of peculiar architecture, constructed in the beginning of 20th century, with a tile roof and a small tower, surrounded by the garden with a fountain and an arbour, used to be a doubtless sight of Terijoki. Sometimes it is wrongly called "Mannerheim's dacha", though the Marshal had never lived in this house.

Novikov's residence house. Photo of 1980s.

Authentic history of this house is as follows.

After the owner had disappeared in the revolution whirlwind, and Finland had proclaimed its independence, the headquarters of the Karelian Isthmus border guards, and later - the officers' assembly of the 1st Chasseur battalion of the Finnish army were placed in the house.

The headquarters of the Karelian Isthmus border guards, later the officers' assembly.

Finnish officers near the club. At the right - colonel Ausfeld.

In December of 1939, when the Winter war began, appointed by comrades Stalin and Molotov "government" of the "Democratic Republic of Finland", headed by Otto Wille Kuusinen, an employee of the Comintern, was placed in the house. To look more significant, the "government" immediately announced Terijoki a town (though earlier it was a village) - and this decree is valid till now. Kuusinen himself settled at the "Ainola" dacha, on the Kuokkala road. According to other sources, everything was the other way round: Kuusinen occupied the house of Novikov, and his "government" had its sessions in the "Ainola".

During the war there was a hospital. After the war, the holiday centre of "Lenizdat Publishing House" had been occupying in the building for a long time. In the beginning of 90s, it was rented to someone, then the tenant disappeared.

During recent years, the desolation prevails in the house and around it. The internal furniture (the furnaces of Dutch tile, doors and even window frames) is plundered, crushed and desecrated. In the windows, which are nailed up somehow, the wind is walking. The arbour in the garden and the iron fencing disappeared. Apparently, the days of the building, have come to an end.

The present condition of the private residence of Novikov is shown on the photos made by the author in the summer of 2000.

A view from the tower of the Novikov's house (May 2001).

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