National Land Bank

What I can see

This neoclassical building was originally designed by Panos Karathanasopoulos and then underwent interventions by Alexandros Nikoloudis and Anastasios Metaxas. Therefore, the building did not maintain its original form for long. With its restoration, in the 1980s, the architect Alexandros Kalligas designed the additional modern building at the back side, thus utilizing the free plot and enabling the bank to meet its functional needs. It was a bold project, a mixture of idealism and realism, a rather museum-like approach to the historic building and a morphologically neutral new construction that does not overshadow it. Despite the negative criticism at the time, this solution is an example for similar cases to this day, but with the use of morphologically more neutral materials, such as glass.

What I can't see

It was probably the headquarters of the Laiki Bank, but later also housed other banks, such as the National Land Bank. The alterations and additions, such as the additional floor and the deterioration of decorative elements, began during the interwar period and continued for decades. Although the third architect in line, Anastasios Metaxas, was a supporter of a “restrained” classicism, without exaggerations, as befits the plain Greek landscape, he did not stay true to this principle, which was clearly seen with the additional floor and the canopy with a frieze as a crowning feature on the central vertical axis. After a fire that caused serious damage, the building remained deserted for a long time.

Info

• Address: 40 Panepistimiou/ El. Venizelou St.

Bibliography