Endover transforms historic Academy of Arts building into luxury apartment and office block
October 21st 2021
“In urban space that’s truly alive, dignified old buildings find a new function in which eras line up in a way that ensures their atmosphere and milieu are not lost, but preserved,” said Mart Kalm, the rector of the Estonian Academy of Arts. “This building once belonged to our academy, but it’s now been granted a remarkable new lease on life. Since its external appearance has been retained and the feel of the place is very similar to the original, I think the restoration and renovations have been a complete success in terms of finding a new use for the building.”
Endover’s Director of Development Uku Tint says that the company worked very closely with the City of Tallinn in planning the transformation of the building. “And I think the results speak for themselves!” he said. “We’ve preserved its historic value while employing big-city solutions in its redevelopment. We’ve retained its facade, which has an important place in the cityscape, but completely restructured the interior and added two specially designed penthouse levels. The building was originally constructed for what was then the Tallinn Pedagogical Institute – the forerunner of Tallinn University – back in 1957, but we’ve used modern solutions to transform it into a landmark that’s steeped in history and yet brand new at the same time. You won’t find many places like that in Tallinn.”
Overlooking Compass Square, the building was purchased by Endover from the Estonian Academy of Arts, which owned the teaching and residential premises it housed. “To date, the majority of the people buying apartments in Ambassador have been Estonians aged 35-55 who value the building’s location right in the heart of the city as well as the quality and exclusivity it represents,” explained Endover CEO Robert Laud.
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“A number have bought them in addition to places they already own, either as a luxury inner-city apartment they can make use of at busy times or as an investment property, or both. The biggest apartment in the building is almost 300 square metres in size, and quite a few of the buyers made the most of the opportunity to plan and design the apartments according to their own wishes. That meant a lot of the apartments were custom-made, with the buyers and the developer working hand in hand.
Ambassador was designed by APEX Arhitektuuribüroo, which is renowned for its restoration of buildings of historical and cultural value. Architect Janar Blehner says that what makes the building special is the way it combines the historical and the modern, as well as its two extra storeys, whose facade utilises contemporary design and finishing materials. “Ambassador’s distinguished look stems from the vision we had of transforming the building into an elegant inner-city residence that would add value to Tallinn’s most prestigious location for years to come,” he explained. “It stands out for the dark-grey rendered wall on its main facade, which features eye-catching vertical decor and accents in the form of the golden tones of the window frames and smaller details that work so well against it.”
Ambassador boasts a grand entranceway made from granite, specially designed automatically opening doors, an elegant furnished foyer and parking within the building itself, including a car lift. Most of the apartments come with a balcony or terrace, and the penthouse apartments enjoy direct lift access. The building offers unique views over the highrise structures of the Maakri business district. Adding further touches of luxury to the apartments, most of which are up to 200 square metres in size, are high ceilings, tall 100% timber doors, French herringbone parquet floors, walk-in wardrobes and ensuite bathrooms. The most expensive apartment purchased so far had a selling price of 900,000 euros.
The Ambassador building was constructed by Metropoli Ehitus, a company forming part of the Endover Kinnisvara group, with almost 500 people contributing to its completion. Operating since 2014, the construction firm has previously erected the Torn highrise in the Kristiine district and the Rocca Towers highrise in the Haabersti district. The building’s financing partners are Redgate Capital and LHV Pank.
Ambassador is a seven-storey residential and commercial building whose lower floors are home to business premises and whose upper floors house 38 apartments. With an average square-metre price of 4600 euros, the apartments range in size from 18-184 square metres. The building has its own multilevel garage, complete with car lift, and a spacious furnished foyer. The apartments come with 2.4-metre internal doors and a luxurious interior finish. The balconies and terraces enjoy unique views over the highrise buildings in the city centre and the towers of the Old Town.
Endover https://endover.ee/endover/ is an Estonian property developer with 25 years of experience in creating value in urban space and building fully integrated residential and business environments. The company’s portfolio includes 70 buildings and 2840 apartments with a total area of 368,000 square metres.
Photo: Kaupo Kalda & Tõnu Tunnel
