Bourla- Levi Mansion

What I can see

The Bourla-Levi Mansion consists of two mansions joined by the glass-roofed atrium. It includes an arcade, a typical example of the mansions’ typology of the interwar period. The facade of Venizelou Street, makes it an eclectic building with neoclassical references and art nouveau elements. The 7 Corinthian columns of the facade extend to three floors, which places the building in the category of l’orders colossales (colossal order). On the fifth floor, the balcony is separated with a horizontal decorative stripe. The back side of the mansion (Rogoti Street) has many baroque elements. Today, offices, restaurants and bars are housed here. The staircase is covered with marble, the window frames are wooden and the floor of the arcade is covered with geometric tiles of the time. The entrance clock is the one Burla had installed.

What I can't see

The building was built after the fire of 1917, as part of the city’s rebuilding. The architects Anastasios Zachariadis and Konstantinos Kokoropoulos were inspired by Selfridges in London. Samuel Burla was a Jewish jeweler and owner of the mansion. The mansion is also called Levi-Menexe, by the next owners. Mainly law offices, tailors and customs agents were housed here. Also, here was the office of the merchant, black market crook and close collaborator of the German occupation forces, Laskaris Papanaoum, who was one of the most hated persons in Thessaloniki, because of whom many were sent to concentration camps and executed. In the basement of the mansion, he stored food which he gave as a reward to German spies. Later, the mansion was proposed to house the city hall, which ultimately did not happen.

Info

• Address: 3 Venizelou St.

Bibliography