Palace of Happiness

The building of the Tallinn Vital Statistics Office is recognized by most Tallinners under the name “Õnnepalee” (Palace of Happiness). Situated along Pärnu Road, it is one of the most notable Art Nouveau structures in Estonia. Initially, the building served as the residence of the owners of the nearby Luther Plywood Factory. The villa was designed by well-known architects from Saint Petersburg, Aleksei Bubõr and Nikolai Vassiljev, who also designed the Estonian Drama Theatre building, among others.

In addition to being a residence, during the Soviet period, the building also housed a children’s polyclinic. The transformation into the “Palace of Happiness” occurred in 1982 (architect A. Raid, interior architects L. Zaporoźets, S. Uusbek). Each year, around 2,500 marriages are solemnized in the building’s three different halls, and over 45,000 vital statistics and population-related procedures are conducted. The most recent major renovation took place in 2019.