The architectural jewels of the city on 31st August Street, which have been “falling” abandoned for decades – Their history
Very close to being classified as preserved are the “twin houses” of Larissa, the architectural ornaments of the city on 31st August Street, which have been “falling” abandoned for decades.
According to the newspaper “Eleftheria”, the Department of Preserved Buildings of the Ministry of Environment sent the Ministry of Culture an explanatory report “for the designation as preserved of the buildings located on 31st August 9 and 31st August and Lorentzou Mavilis streets, in O.T. 984B, in the Municipality of Larissa, which he forwarded to the Department of Town Planning of the Municipality of Larissa”.
The Deputy Mayor of Town Planning of the Municipality of Larissa, Nikos Kaltsas, maintains that this is an important step towards the rescue of the two remarkable buildings of particular architectural interest, which have remained in the city, and the Municipality of Larissa will support this process in any way.
The “twin houses” are included, among others, in a list of notable buildings of Larissa compiled by the Association of Architects of Larissa, with the aim of saving them, and a related document – a proposal for them to be considered preserved – has been sent to the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of the Environment. Also, the TEE K.D. Thessalia includes the houses in question in a relevant study compiled by a working group of its members in 1994.
HISTORICAL DATA
According to the doctor – historical researcher, Nikos Papatheodorou, “Until 1994, there were three similar buildings in the area. The third was on the corner of Mavili and Drosini streets, just behind the corner from the twins. Previously, there was a fourth similar building on August 31, next to the current twins. Therefore, we can talk about quadruple houses.
The exact date of their construction is not known. It is probable that they are buildings of the third decade of the 20th century. The owner and builder was the restaurateur Georgios Natakias. Around 1914 Natakias came from Athens to Larissa. He rented a shop on Panos Street, converted it into a restaurant-tavern and in 1915 began operating it under the name “Afthonia”. With the money he collected from his professional activity, he built, as journalist Kostas Perraivos reports, three or four similar houses at the corner of today’s 31st August and Mavili streets. Today, two of them have been saved.
The residence, which occupies the corner of 31st Augustus and Mavili streets, was sold on April 30, 1928 by the owner Georgios Natakia to the doctor Kosmas Katsigra of Georgios.
On August 17, 1933, Kosmas Katsigras sold it to the landowner Antonio Garane of Ioannou (Megalovryso Agias 1888-New York 1978). This building was used for several years, either as a residence or as a business premises. Today it belongs to the children of the buyer Zisi-Apostolos, Ioannis and Anna Garane, elderly people, who live in New York and has essentially been abandoned to his fate.
The second residence faces the 31st of August and is located next to the previous one. Unknown when, it became the property of Larissa merchant Ilias Triantaphyllos, who on April 12, 1938 sold it to Eleni, the widow of Georgios Gouliamas. On August 27, 1946, the latter transferred the residence to her niece Antonia, widow of Ioannis Oikonomou, by will. In turn, the latter sold it on February 7, 1989 to her nephew Nikolaos Oikonomou of Stamos, in whose ownership it remains until today.
Both the ground floor (semi-basement) and the first floor have four rooms, with the necessary auxiliary spaces, and communicate with each other with an internal wooden staircase. The owners lived on the first floor, while the domestic servants were usually housed on the ground floor. Until 2004 it was inhabited by the family of Nikolaos Oikonomou and since then it has remained uninhabited.”
Source: Skai
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