This page outlines the history of Finnish immigration to the neighborhood, the growth of the Finnish cooperatives, the building of the FHBA’s two buildings, and presents images from the site and the neighborhood. This is taken from the Finnish Home Building Association’s Application for New York State and National Registers Nomination, 2018, available at the bottom of the page.
Photograph of Hilja and Toivo Salomaa, residents of Finnish Home Building Association in 1976. Limestone trim along the main entrance of 826 43rd Street. (Provided by Migration Institute of Finland)
The development of a non-profit housing cooperative was a novel idea at that time. It came in the midst of a housing crisis in New York City and was introduced by working class Finnish immigrants who applied their experiences with cooperative systems to save themselves from the exploitative strains created by renting poor quality housing.
Finns began immigrating to the United States in the 1860s, but peak immigration occurred in the early twentieth century in response to poverty in rural regions and political tensions created by the Russian Empire after 1894. Against the Russification of Finland, Finns banned together to form a nationalistic movement, managing successfully to prevent some oppressive measures and within this same time period, developed a trade union movement and a labor movement.
The modern cooperative movement, based on the Rochdale Principles of 1844, was introduced to Finland in 1866 and spread through public outreach so that by 1914, the majority of the Finnish population was involved in some form of cooperation.
The concept of cooperation described in a 1920 article was as follows:
Cooperation, when spelled with a capital “C,” refers to a definite system of reorganization of production and distribution for the service of the people rather than the profit of individuals. It is a movement of people to organize themselves in order to take into their own hands the administration of certain distributive and productive functions which are now administered by private interest for private benefit. It is claimed to be an application of the principles of democracy to industrial and economic life.
In New York, language barriers inhibited many Finnish immigrants from obtaining jobs within their particular trades and from finding decent housing. Coupled with these struggles was a nostalgia for the traditions left behind, an awareness of the effects of economic exploitation, a belief in mutual aid and self-education, religious ties to the Lutheran Church and a growing network of Finnish newspapers that kept immigrants informed. Forming cooperative organizations was a practical way for Finnish Americans to maintain cultural identity, distribute Finnish products, and defend themselves against exploitation; in this way, they were able to co-exist as Finns while also developing a new identity in America.
One early example of mutual aid was the Finnish Aid Society Imatra, founded in 1890. Finns met to socialize, raise money to assist other Finns in need, and discuss local problems including the lack of quality housing. At Imatra Hall (located at 740 40th Street in Brooklyn), Finnish carpenters decided to establish the Finnish Home Building Cooperative and construct one- and two-family houses between 41st Street and 43rd Street, and 7th and 8th Avenues for Finnish immigrants. This appears to be the historical predecessor for constructing the first housing cooperative.
As the immigrant population continued to arrive and quality housing stock could not be found at a reasonable price, a group of like-minded Finns (again, who were carpenters) proposed building a 4-story apartment building for sixteen families on 43rd Street. This was the first of two buildings belonging to a new housing cooperative called the Finnish Home Building Association.
Taken from Real Estate Record and Builders Guide, May 20, 1916
As summarized in Progressive Housing in New York City: A Closer Look at Model Tenements and Finnish Cooperatives, “the Finnish housing cooperative system was based on non-profit principles, meaning that each apartment was worth one share, both in purchasing and selling. The owner of the share would receive the same amount of money that she/he bought the apartment for when they decide to sell it, regardless of speculative market prices. Along with the purchase of the share, each shareholder also gains one ‘vote.’” The cooperative was “built and run, not for profit but for the service of the occupants.” Occupants were issued shares to lease the apartment while legal ownership of the property remained vested in the Cooperative Association.