What I can see

This building consists of a ground floor and three floors, follows the neoclassical base-main body-crowning arrangement and has simple decoration, with particular Art Deco elements, such as the vertical and semicircular carvings in the plaster, the gobbles of the balconies, the frames of the openings, the paneling as a motif of the large surfaces on the top floor, the geometry of the railings and the symmetrical pediment endings.

What I can't see

It was originally designed by Minas Vassiliou as a “profitable building”, that is, probably for renting out its premises, but it was later converted into a hotel based on designs by Konstantinos Kokoropoulos and Anastasios Zachariadis on behalf of the brothers Aaron and Isaac Sakki. At that time, many office buildings had begun to be converted into hotels. The Moderne Hotel was ahead of its time and belonged to the luxury hotels. It had a tea room, a smoking room, central heating, an elevator, a telephone connection and hot water in every room. The ground floor housed the historic Averof restaurant until 1978. The building’s interior decoration was intense with plaster reliefs on walls and ceilings, elaborate railings and many carved elements.

Info

• Address: 17 Syggrou & Egnatias St.

Bibliography