The young art student Rudolf Åkerblom wandered around Katajanokka in the summer of 1872 drawing its scenery. In so doing he immortalized the condemned shacks. Åkerblom was drawn to Helsinki's modest past and wanted others to remember it too through his work.

The picturesque atmosphere of a fisherman's hamlet is depicted in his vivid watercolours and lithographs. Even though back then Katajanokka was the most densely populated area of Helsinki, the human form is rare in Åkerblom's work.