Põdrangu sovhoos rajati 1960ndatel endise Sääse mõisa aladele. Mõisad olid ajalooliselt ikka looduskaunitesse kohtadesse rajatud, mistõttu kolhooside-sovhooside ja nende asulate või muude põllumajandusega seotud asutuste pookimine mõisakomplekside külge oli ENSV-s küllaltki tavapärane praktika. Tänuväärsel kombel andis see põhjust natsionaliseeritud mõisahooneid korras hoida, mis sest, et need olid suures osas kuulunud sakslastele. Nii sai ka Sääse mõisasüdamest uue sovhoosi keskus, mille kontor paigutati Ernst Gustav Kühnerti kavandatud ja 1913 valminud mõisa härrastemajja (1942-1944 asusid samas Oru Kõrgema Kodumajanduskooli õppeklassid ja internaat). Härrastemajast põhja poole pandi laiutama suur linnuvabrik, uuele keskusehoonele oli määratud krunt härrastemaja vastas. Sellest lõunasse ja läände ehitati tüpiseeritud rida- ja kortermaju sovhoosi töötajatele, koondamaks maarahvast linnalikult kontrollitud keskkonda. Nii kasvas Sääse 1970ndatel (praegu üle 400 elanikuga) alevikuks.
Põdrangu mitmeotstarbelist keskusehoonet hakati projekteerima 1970ndate keskpaiku. Tollal oli Tamsalu lubjatöösturi Boris Limbergi mõisahoone veel suhteliselt hästi säilinud, pärast kontori kolimist uude hoonesse kavandati vanasse majja paigutada sovhoosi muuseum. See plaan jäi aga katki. Tänaseks on hoonest püsti vaid mõningad müürid.
Eesti Maaehitusprojektis kavandatud keskusehoone valmis 1978. Projekti autoriks on Riia Polütehnilise Instituudi lõpetanud ja tollal EMP Pärnu osakonnas töötanud arhitekt Maara Metsal (s 1937). Keskuse sisearhitektiks on Maia Laul kunstikombinaadist ARS. Lehviksaali seinu katvad sgrafiitod tegi kunstnik Eeva Jänes, tekstiilid Peeter Kuutma.
Ülesehituselt on hoone sarnane paljudele kuue-seitsmekümnendatel kavandatud keskusehoonetele, koosnedes kahest liidetud mahust, kus madalamas horisontaalsust rõhutavas pooles asuvad kontoriruumid ning sellega (antud juhul täisnurga all) liituvas ekspressiivsema vormipüüdlusega mahus lehvikukujuliselt lahtihargnev saal. Sellise hoonetüübi kohalikuks eelkäijaks võib pidada Valve Pormeistri suurepärast Kurtna Linnukasvatuse Katsejaama peahoonet (valmis 1966), millele enam või vähem sarnaneva ülesehitusega hooneid kerkis hiljem terve trobikond.
Suures osas kasutuseta seisev keskusehoone on halvas seisukorras nii ehitustehniliselt kui niiskuskahjustustest tulenevalt. Suurte niiskuskahjustustega on muu seas ka saal, kuna seda ei köeta ning katus ei pea vett. Enamik ruume pole pärast sovhoosi likvideerimist uut otstarvet leidnud, kusjuures pole isegi vaevutud neid tühjaks teha - nii on säilinud seintel leninlikud loosungid ja kalendrid aastast 1991, laudadel iidsed telefonid ja arvelauad, aknalaudadel ammu unustatud konservikarbid ja Lääne lahustuva kohvi purgid. Kõige tipuks kõrgub ühe ruumi nurgas ENSV lipp. Peab tõdema, et Põdrangu sovhoosi keskusehoone tulevik on tume. Lisaks kehvale seisukorrale on üheks põhjuseks ka niivõrd ebavajalikult suure hoone asukoht sellises perifeerias nagu seda on tänapäeval Sääse alevik. Hetkel on maja 65000 eur. hinnaga müügis ja ootab uut omanikku!
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Põdrangu state farm was built in the 1960s on the grounds of the former Sääse manor. Manors were historically still built in places of natural beauty, which is why the grafting of kolkhozes-state farms and their settlements or other institutions related to agriculture to manor complexes was a fairly common practice in the USSR. Thankfully, this gave reason to maintain the nationalized manor buildings, which were largely German-owned. This is how the heart of the Sääse manor became the center of the new state farm, whose office was placed in the manor house of the manor designed by Ernst Gustav Kühnert and completed in 1913 (in 1942-1944, the classes and boarding school of Oru High School of Home Economics were located there). A large poultry factory was set up to the north of the manor house, the plot opposite the manor house was allocated for the new central building. To the south and west of it, typical terraced houses and apartments were built for state farm workers, in order to concentrate rural people in an urban controlled environment. This is how Sääse grew into a small town in the 1970s (currently with over 400 inhabitants).
The design of the multi-purpose central building of Põdrangu began in the mid-1970s. At that time, the manor building of the Tamsalu lime manufacturer Boris Limberg was still relatively well preserved, after the office was moved to a new building, it was planned to place a state farm museum in the old building. However, this plan was broken. Today, only some walls of the building remain.
The central building planned in the Estonian Rural Development Project was completed in 1978. The author of the project is the architect Maara Metsal (b. 1937), who graduated from the Riga Polytechnic Institute and worked at the EMP Pärnu department at the time. The interior architect of the center is Maia Laul from the art combine ARS. The sgraffitos covering the walls of the fan hall were made by the artist Eeva Jänes, the textiles by Peeter Kuutma.
The structure of the building is similar to many central buildings designed in the 60s and 70s, consisting of two joined volumes, where the lower side emphasizing horizontality houses the office spaces and the adjoining (in this case at a right angle) volume with a more expressive form, a fan-shaped branching hall. The excellent main building of the Kurtna Poultry Breeding Experiment Station (completed in 1966) of Valve Pormeister can be considered the local predecessor of this type of building, to which a whole group of buildings with a more or less similar structure were built later.
The central building, which is largely unused, is in a bad condition both from a structural point of view and due to moisture damage. Among other things, the hall has major moisture damage, as it is not heated and the roof does not hold water. Most of the rooms have not found a new purpose after the liquidation of the state farm, and they haven't even bothered to empty them - so Leninist slogans and calendars from 1991 have been preserved on the walls, ancient telephones and invoices on the tables, long-forgotten cans and cans of Western instant coffee on the windowsills. To top it off, the ENSV flag rises in the corner of one room. It must be said that the future of the central building of Põdrangu state farm is dark. In addition to the poor condition, one of the reasons is the location of such an unnecessarily large building in such a periphery as Sääse township is today. At the moment, the house is 65,000 euros. for sale at a price and waiting for a new owner!