Stenbock House

Stenbock House
Stenbocki maja
Stenbock House in Tallinn
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassicism
Town or city	Tallinn
Country	Estonia
Current tenants	Seat of the Government of Estonia
Construction started	1787
Completed	1792
Client	Jakob Pontus Stenbock
Design and construction
Architect	Johann Caspar Mohr

Stenbock House (Estonian: Stenbocki maja) is a prominent neo-classical building located on Toompea hill, Tallinn. It is the official seat of the Government of Estonia.

The history of the Stenbock house in Tallinn goes back to the 1780s, when the Russian Imperial administration of what was then the Governorate of Estonia launched a scheme to erect new buildings for administrative purposes. Originally, the building was intended as a courthouse. Count Jakob Pontus Stenbock, a member of the local nobility and landowner with an estate on the island of Hiiumaa, won the tender to erect a new building on Toompea hill in the middle of Tallinn's medieval centre. The architect for the new house was Johann Caspar Mohr, a provincial architect who was responsible for the maintenance of public buildings in Estonia and a popular designer of local manor houses.

The construction of the building started in 1787. Almost immediately, however, the Russian state ran low on funds as a result of expenditures in connection with the ongoing Russo-Turkish War. As a result, the province became indebted to Stenbock, and the unfinished building passed into his possession. He subsequently used it as his Tallinn residence, and the building still bears its name in his remembrance. In 1828, after Stenbock's death, the building passed between different owners until 1899, when it finally became the property of the Governorate administration and at last actually began to be used as a courthouse.

During both the first period of independence of Estonia (1919-1940) and during the Soviet occupation (to 1991) it continued to be used as a courthouse. The maintenance of the building was, however, gravely neglected during the Soviet years; among other things, the ceilings of two courtrooms and the archive of the court collapsed. When the Estonian Government assumed ownership in the early 1990s, the whole building was in risk of collapse. A complete renovation was carried out between 1996 and 2000. The newly renovated building became the official seat of the Estonian Government at its re-opening in 2000.