What I can see

The Stein Mansion is at the crossroads of Kalapothaki Street, a pedestrian walk, and Venizelou Street. At its top, one can distinguish an ornate cupola crowned by a glass sphere with metal ribs. This architectural element is rare for the city of Thessaloniki and is somehow ill-matched with the strict lines of the rest of the building. The dome’s cylinder (the so called drum) is adorned by oblong windows with a pointed tip, while over this dome, there is a second one, which has small circular openings and supports the green sphere. The domes are scaly and have a grey-silver colour.

What I can't see

This is one of the city’s oldest buildings. It is one of few that survived the fire of 1917 and the mass demolitions of post-war decades. It is built on one of the new avenues that were widened by Turkish authorities as part of Thessaloniki’s modernization. The economic boom brought by the opening of the Suez Canal and the reforms of the Ottoman Empire, created an impetus for Thessaloniki’s development and attracted foreign trading houses. One of them, the Austrian Stein house, chose this spot near the port and Eleftherias Square to build this structure, designed by architect Ernst Loewy. Unfortunately, due to a new floor added later, the original harmony between the elegant dome and the rest of the building is lost. Currently, it houses offices.

Info

• Address: 2 Kalapothaki & El. Venizelou St.

Bibliography