Charles Bassi

Charles (Carlo) Francesco Bassi (12 November 1772, Turin – 11 November 1840, Turku) was a Finnish architect of Italian descent. He was the first professionally trained architect who permanently worked in present-day Finland. He worked, both as an independent architect and as an official responsible for planning new churches, in a Neoclassical style.

Charles Bassi was the brother of ballet dancer Giovanna Bassi and came with her from present-day Italy to Sweden in 1783. Initially he was employed by the Swedish King Gustav III as a page but started studying architecture at the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts in already in 1784. His principal teacher was Louis Jean Desprez. He was awarded prizes at the academy in 1788 and 1790, and after finishing his studies left for an eight year long study trip to Italy and Paris. He thereafter returned to Stockholm and began his career as an assistant to Carl Christoffer Gjörwell in his position as city architect of Stockholm. Gjörwell and Bassi had studied together at the academy and knew each other.

In 1802 Bassi travelled to Finland (at the time a part of Sweden) to supervise the construction of a new building for the Royal Academy of Turku designed by Gjörwell. The finishing of the construction of the building was delayed until 1815 and by that time Bassi had already established himself as an independent architect in Turku. He never returned to Sweden but settled permanently in Finland (which in 1809 had been lost by Sweden to Russia following the Finnish War).

At first he was active as an independent architect, notably in Turku, and was in 1810 appointed as the head of a government agency (Swedish: intendenturkontoret) responsible for producing plans for new church buildings. He kept his position and in 1821 moved with the agency to the new capital of the Grand Duchy, Helsinki. He took his leave in 1824 and was succeeded by Carl Ludvig Engel. He moved back to Turku and continued working as an independent architect there until his death in 1840.

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