The name Finlayson equals to industrial revolution in Finland. Irish engineer James Finlayson brought industrialism to Tampere, a then-small countryside town by the rapids in the beginning of 19th century and gave birth to the city, which today is one of the biggest residential and (post)industrial zones in Finland. Mr. Finlayson never managed to make the factory very big, but his successors, the von Nottbeck family, made it. The Cotton Factory continued production at this area in downtown until 1990's.

The area of Finlayson comprises tens of buildings, that were built whenever production of something new started or more capacity was needed. Location in the heart of the city and by the stream Tammerkoski is ideal for offices and stores, and they have already invaded most of the renovated buildings. The old, dusty and industrial Finlayson doesn't practically exist any more.

Most buildings in the area have a code, TR (tehdasrakennus) and a running number. In addition to the official (functional) name, many buildings have also nicknames. For instance, TR10 = "Plevna" = spinning mill. Another building worth mentioning is the sc. old dyeing shop, TR3, which has been renamed to TR15 since it was in secondary use for most of the time the factory operated. There was lot of controversy about future of the dyeing shop that continued for over a decade, until demolition stopped it around 2004-2005.

Together with Tampella steel & linen mills and Frenckell paper mill, Finlayson forms the core of Tammerkoski cultural scenery. This scenery continues to North with Lapinniemi cotton mill (in my opinion it belongs to the totality, even though it's not by the stream any more) and to South with Tako carton mill, Liljeroos thread mill and remainings of the Verkatehdas woolen mill. With all these red brick factories, the stream is one of the most important, and best-looking, industrial relics in our country.