The Oldest House in Kärdla

This is the oldest standing house in Kärdla. The present building was completed in 1851 and it was reconstructed from an older building on the same site – from a reed-roofed chimneyless hut originating from 1806. The house was built by Pisa Mats, a Swede who was born in Kärdla.

Kärdla was an ancient village of Hiiu Swedes and the oldest written records certifying it date back to 22 March 1470, when Grandmaster Johann Wolthus von Herse confirmed that local Swedes were free men. In 1810, the then landowner Konstantin von Ungern-Sternberg scattered the farmsteads of Kärdla Swedes and set up a manor farm instead.

The Pisa’s House is an example of the type of lodgings of Swedes in Kärdla, which followed the traditions of Scandinavian wooden architecture. The house still belongs to the heirs of the family.

The interior of the house has been rebuilt. It underwent a major renovation after WWII and in the course of it, several window openings were widened and added. The house was restored in 1993. Since 1999, it has been protected as a national architectural monument.