Interwar Athens: A Journey Through Architectural Transformation

The Interwar interval in Athens

In 1921, the architect Le Corbusier started publishing a collection of essays expressing his imaginative and prescient for contemporary structure. “A home is a machine for dwelling,” he declared. Western society, impressed by avant-garde inventive actions, had moved away from the single-family properties and ornate ornamental components of earlier centuries in direction of residential buildings designed for performance, vitality effectivity and enhanced consolation for his or her occupants. By increasing vertically, these buildings additionally optimized using area in densely populated city facilities. As the brand new mannequin for housing, the condominium constructing grew to become a defining image of this period. It represented the combination of superior applied sciences, modern building strategies and cutting-edge supplies and heralded a change in architectural design and concrete dwelling. However how did Interwar structure in Athens differ from that of cities equivalent to Paris or Milan?

“Whereas there aren’t important variations, interwar structure in Greece, not like in the remainder of the Western world, has a novel place to begin,” explains Eirini Gratsia, archaeologist and coordinator of MONUMENTA, a nonprofit group that’s been documenting the architectural heritage of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Athens, Piraeus and different cities since 2006.

In Greece, the interwar interval started in 1923, following the tip of the Second Greco-Turkish Battle. It was a time of profound social change and political instability marked by an inflow of refugees and the gradual adoption of recent concepts and existence.

“The tendencies dominating Europe ultimately arrived right here, although with some delay. Architects skilled overseas and on the Nationwide Technical College of Athens (NTUA) embraced the ideas of Eclecticism and the Trendy Motion,” says Gratsia. “We see a shift away from Neoclassicism and Academicism in direction of Eclecticism, a method mixing components from numerous actions, which supplied a recent method to housing throughout the Twenties. By the Thirties, this gave option to the ideas of the Trendy Motion.”

The stroll

“Right here we’ve a surprising instance of Eclectic structure,” Gratsia tells me, as we stand outdoors the Korkodeilou Condo Constructing at 4 Skaramanga Avenue, close to the Nationwide Archaeological Museum, admiring the marble carvings on an arch that frames the heavy door.

The constructing was designed in 1924 by the architect Konstantinos Kitsikis for the shipowner Dimitris Korkodeilos and his household. It has since been declared a listed monument. “This constructing showcases the slicing fringe of building know-how on the time – concrete was utilized in its building, permitting for bigger openings and larger heights,” Gratsia explains as we tour a high-ceilinged first-floor condominium.

We pause to admire the hearth, embellished with ceramic tiles from Florence. “These have been custom-ordered particularly for the hearth,” Ismini Kalabaliki, proprietor of the condominium, tells me. Ismini and her household will transfer in just a few months from now, after renovations by Anaktae, a design studio led by Vivian Philippa and Diana Karvounis, who specialise in restoring or reimagining heritage areas.

Why did Kalabaliki select to reside on this busy central neighborhood, particularly with younger youngsters? “Now we have to be courageous and never abandon the world to its destiny. I didn’t need to spend cash on a newly constructed place that appears like each different condominium. This constructing has a lot historical past and character.”

Kalabaliki’s condominium was as soon as the house of Maria Moscholiou, an actress with the Nationwide Theatre and the longtime Excessive Priestess of the Olympic Flame Lighting Ceremony. “One of many unique homeowners of the constructing was the Swiss Membership Athens,” provides the constructing supervisor, becoming a member of in on the dialog. “The Lobby Suisse operated right here for a few years as a faculty for Swiss youngsters dwelling in Athens,” she says. The constructing additionally steadily hosted distinguished guests, together with politicians equivalent to Konstantinos Karamanlis and Konstantinos Tsatsos, in addition to literary figures equivalent to Odysseas Elytis.

Subsequent door stands one other spectacular constructing, additionally designed by Konstantinos Kitsikis, a professor on the Nationwide Technical College of Athens. Referred to as the Papaleonardou Condo Constructing (and situated at 61 28is Oktovriou Avenue and Skaramanga), this five-story masterpiece of eclectic structure was as soon as residence to Maria Callas, who lived there along with her mom and sister from 1938 to 1945. Following its restoration, it would home the Maria Callas Academy of Lyric Arts.

“The 2 condominium buildings share many similarities – the richness of their ornamental components is hanging in each instances,” says Gratsia. “Nevertheless, the Papaleonardou Condo Constructing higher displays the evolving wants of the city bourgeoisie within the trendy period. It encompasses a basement parking space and an elevator, conveniences that have been changing into important.”

On the hunt

At quantity 59 28is Oktovriou Avenue, we spot what is perhaps probably the most lovely doorway in Athens. The wrought iron Artwork Deco entrance, with its signature motif of a frozen fountain, belongs to a six-story condominium constructing designed in 1934 by architect Emmanuel Kriezis, in keeping with the ideas of the Trendy Motion.

“Properties constructed within the mid-Thirties resemble containers, with their design primarily specializing in lighting and performance,” explains Gratsia. “The primary ornamental options are bay home windows, which gave homeowners additional inside area, and plaster molding.”

Strolling towards Victoria Sq., we cease to admire quantity 65 28is Oktovriou Avenue, the four-story Isaia Mansion. Identified to many Athenians because the headquarters of the Stavrakos Movie and Tv Faculty and as a venue for exhibitions, this 1923 constructing was designed by civil engineer Panagiotis Zizilas to operate as an income-generating constructing.

As Gratsia explains, the residences have been initially rented out to members of the Greek diaspora from Egypt. “There’s a shift in mindset – we’re transferring away from non-public properties and, by the Twenties, multi-story buildings are being constructed particularly for rental functions.”

Throughout the highway on Ioulianou Avenue stands a five-story eclectic constructing influenced by Artwork Nouveau; it’s the work of the famend architect Vasileios Tsagris. A key determine in transitional eclecticism, Tsagris blended conventional kinds with the Trendy Motion. His buildings are distinguished by vertical bands that span the complete top of his buildings, a defining characteristic of his architectural language.

Mapping the Trendy Motion

A little bit additional down, at 54 28is Oktovriou Avenue, stands the six-story Alkimos Gratsos Condo Constructing, designed by Nikolaos Nikolaidis and inbuilt 1934. This construction is an early and significantly noteworthy instance of the Trendy Motion. For one more edifice by the identical architect, we head to 1A Egyptou Avenue, to a constructing distinguished by a big clock on considered one of its facades. Referred to as the Savvidis Condo Constructing, this six-story construction, with its hanging curved balconies, is a quintessential illustration of the Trendy Motion.

Turning onto Chevden Avenue, we encounter the G. Patsakof Condo Constructing, one other traditional instance of the Trendy Motion, inbuilt 1935 by civil engineer Nikolaos Kotzamani.

Additional alongside, at 30 Chevden Avenue, stands the Oikonomidis Condo Constructing, designed in 1936 by famend architect Dimitris Pikionis. Pikionis masterfully mixed components of the Trendy Motion with these of conventional architectural kinds within the design of its facades. As architect and NTUA professor emeritus Dimitris Filippidis observes, Pikionis succeeded in “bridging the hole between pre-industrial conventional structure and superior European design, making a distinctly ‘nationwide’ Greek architectural model.”

As I half methods with Eirini Gratsia, I ask her what motivated her to doc the architectural legacy of Greece’s city facilities. “The need to protect the buildings and their tales,” she replies with a smile.