Hotel Byron
Hotel Byron was a neoclassical hotel little before its partial collapse.
Modern and Contemporary era (1821 - )
1833 Beginning of construction.
1839 Completion.
1987 Listed but never restored.
2019 It collapsed almost entirely.
Ottoman era (1453- 1821)
Byzantine era (331 AC- 1453)
Roman era (30 BC- 330 AC)
Hellenistic era (322- 31 BC)
Classical era (478-323 BC)
Archaic era (800-479 BC)
Geometric era (-1100- 800 BC)
Prehistory (-1100 BC)
What I can see
A historic hotel was located here, but has now almost totally collapsed. It was a building of early classicism, which is why it had austere and symmetrical facades that exuded Doricity.
What I can't see
It was probably the oldest hotel in the city and was called “Anatoli” (East). Lord Byron and King Otto had stayed here. Otto had chosen it because it was close to Agia Irini Church, which functioned as a cathedral at that time, and access for attending mass was easier. It is likely that the hotel also functioned as an astronomical and meteorological observatory, before the National Observatory was built. Moreover, shops were housed on the ground floor. When it was renamed to “Byron” (late 19th century), it turned into a luxury hotel for aristocrats, but later and until the end of the military dictatorship (1974), it operated as an adults-only hotel. Then, it was abandoned, until its nearly total collapse a few years ago.
Info
- Address: 38 Aeolou St.
Bibliography
https://archaeologia.eie.gr/archaeologia/gr/arxeio_more.aspx?id=68
Last visit 4/6/2024
Field observation by scientific editors
Mitropoulou K., (d.u.), Αθήνα, μνήμες και κτήρια, [Athens, memories and buildings], Athens: Sideris Publication
Newsroom, (2019), Κτίριο υπό κατάρρευση στην Αιόλου: Εκεί πήρε ο Όθωνας τις μεγάλες αποφάσεις για την Ελλάδα, [Collapsing building in Aeolou: This is where Otto made the big decisions for Greece] in Ethnos
https://www.ethnos.gr/greece/article/70665/ktirioypokatarreyshsthnaioloyekeiphreoothonastismegalesapofaseisgiathnellada
Last visit 4/6/2024
