What I can see

These days, we see a damaged building, which is to be restored. Its architecture before the fire and after the ongoing restoration has little to do with the original architecture, as the building was constructed in successive phases. It is a neoclassical building, with many eclectic elements. It belonged to the banker Stamatios Dekozis Vouros and is considered one of the best works of the architect Ernst Ziller. The most distinctive feature of the building is the corner tower-like ends. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the first floor was the residence of Dekozis Vouros and the ground floor housed shops. It housed shops for many decades and this did not change even with the subsequent uses and expansions of the building. In the early 20th century, the luxurious Attikon cinema was built, designed by Alexandros Nikoloudis, when also many neo-baroque elements were added. It was one of the first examples of use of reinforced concrete and the mansion’s garden was removed for the construction of the movie theatre. Decades later, a second movie theatre was built, the Apollon cinema.

What I can't see

The Attikon cimena was originally a theatre and later converted into a cinema. It was one of the most beautiful cinemas in Athens and its construction was a project within the logic of the early 20th century for the beautification of the city (and especially Stadiou Street), with impressive mansions, so that it would resemble other European capitals and refer to an Athenian “City”. The first sound film (Fox Follies) in Greece was projected here in 1928. It was, therefore, the first “parlan” cinema, while concerts were held on Sundays. During the German Occupation, it was requisitioned by the Germans so that films could be projected only for them. The building burned down during the voting of the second memorandum on the Greek economic crisis. It remained in this condition for more than 10 years, as the two institutions responsible for the building were in a multi-year legal dispute, until they finally merged. One institution owned a large amount of money to the other and this fact gave rise to rumors that the building was not burned down by protesters, but from within. This was never confirmed, however, the events of that evening are quite interesting. Shortly before the fire, access to the building was impossible, as the police had blocked Stadiou Street from the Old Parliament to Klafthmonos Square and all the vertical streets, therefore, protesters could not reach Attikon cinema. It is also worth noting that although the building burned down, the movie theatres survived. It has been listed as a monument with protected use; therefore, it can never have any use other than that of cinemas.

Info

• Address: 19 Stadiou St.
• Phone: +30 210 3228821, 3252817

Bibliography