History of Krapi

Genuine Encounters since 1911, the story of the house is kept safe in our recipe book

The Krapi Estate is first mentioned on the 17th century maps of the Tuusula-region. Krapi is one of seven houses in the village that were passed down within families. In the 19th century, the house was hosted by Henrik Krapi. His son, Karl August Michelsson Krapi, moved the domestic building
with all the barns and sheds to its current location, then he constructed the main building.

The state councillor, G. F. Sourander, bought the Krapi homestead as his summer place in 1882. The current main building, designed by architect F. W. Miertz, was finished already by the next midsummer.

Krapi homestead has belonged to the Holma family since 1911, first as a dairy cattle farm and nowadays a service provider for genuine encounters.

A newly-wed couple from Orimattila, Klas and Maiju Holma, bought the Krapi estate in 1911. They developed the estate with great determination by initially investing into dairy cattle. The new grand
cowshed was finished in 1917. However, when Klas Holma was executed in the civil war, Maiju was left alone with two children to take care of Krapi. Later, Maiju married Onni Lustig. Onni Lustig established an exquisite sand beach, known as the Krapi Riviera, where those of high society from Helsinki loved to spend their nice summer days.

The Krapi Estate then passed to Kauko and Maire Holma in 1936. The Holmas successfully grew the homestead’s livestock business by investing also into pig farming. In summers, Maire hosted a boarding house in Krapi. Same families continually returned every year, over and over again to spend their summers in Krapi.

Matti and Salme Holma took the reins in 1970. In the late 1960’s, Salme started the arrangement of lunches on summer Sundays. Guests arrived from long distances to enjoy the festive foods made from the homestead’s own ingredients. Together, Matti and Salme Holma pushed Krapi to a new direction. The transformation began with Krapihovi’s downstairs converted to a restaurant
and later the whole old house followed suit to become a restaurant facility. The host, the hostess and their children moved to a new home that was renovated in the old piggery. The last of the cows left the Krapi Estate in 1984. A new time had begun.

Tuusula Golf Club must thank Matti Holma and his friend. These enthusiastic men, bit by the golf bug, constructed the training area and later the 9-hole golf track to Krapi’s fields. The first indoor training area was in the attic of Krapi’s cowshed. The golf course was expanded to the full-sized 18-hole track in 1990.

The cowshed was transformed into a hotel in 1987, the smoke sauna “Savusauna” was completed to its original place on the shore of Lake Tuusula 1977 and restaurant Atelier was finalized in 1991.

Matti and Salme Holma’s children, Anne and Pekka, took Krapihovi ’s management over in 1994 and the development continued. Granary “Mankeliaitta” was then built, they also developed the instructional kitchen “Hella” and finally the Smokery was ready. Keski-Uusimaa region’s summer theater started their performances in Krapi’s courtyard in 2002.

Today Krapi’s delicious story lives in the kitchen. The story is built around the seasonal cycles, pure Finnish ingredients and the history of the house. In good food there is everything, not diminishing nor exaggerating anything, our whole heart in every taste.

In the courtyard’s garden, next to Krapihovi, there are the Smokehouse, granary “Aitta”, house “Alitupa”, the wine cellar, granary and summer restaurant “Mankeli”, the hotel in the old cowshed, summer theater and club and event venue “Krapin Paja”. The winding road that meanders through the golf course takes you to Lake Tuusula, where right upon its shore, the smoke sauna “Savusauna” heats up.

In the beginning of 2020 Krapi and Guesthouse Onnela merged, forming a new ensemble upon the shore of Lake Tuusula.

In the Onnela region there are spacious event venue “Toukola” and its halls “Eino” & “Leino”, three saunas right at the shore of Lake Tuusula: Jannes’s sauna, “Elvilä” and Lake sauna “Järvisauna”. Hotel rooms in the buildings of “Tammisto”- and “Viertola”, Log cabin “Männistö” and “Taabor”- and “Tammi”-cabinets. In the the same region there is also the original guesthouse Onnela-building “Impivaara”, where Johanna Sofia Björklund held the guesthouse during the golden era of Finnish artists. The most well-known inhabitant was poet, Eino Leino.

Krapi is a genuine Finnish setting. Meticulously handcrafted food and genuine care in an atmospheric milieu, spiced with the region’s abundant history and lively culture. The table is served with delicacies, warm-hearted caring, our whole heart in every taste. That how it has always been in Krapi, the dining table is more than just a place to eat.