What I can see

The impressive building of the Italian-Jewish banker and president of the Israelite Community Saul Modiano was designed by Vitaliano Poselli. With the fire of 1917 a large part of the Saul Stoa was destroyed. A few years later, the damaged section was restored as it was designed by Karolos Modiano and the building was also adapted to the new plots of the new urban planning. Moreover, 2 internal pedestrian streets were formed, vertical to each other. The Renaissance style on the facades stands out. Among the surviving architectural elements of the early building are the false parapets, the projecting openings- balconies, the spiral beam brackets, the main entrance, the series of windows of the interior facades, the arched lintels of the openings on the ground floor, the marble staircase with the ornate balustrade, the relief archway of a corridor and the corresponding painted one on the opposite side. The newer part of the building has the entrance on Eleftheriou Venizelou Street and the art deco elements (e.g. geometric frames in the openings) as its main features.

What I can't see

Before the stoa, there was an inn with shops, workshops and offices. So did the Saul Stoa. It was two-storeyed and housed luxurious shops, workshops and offices. On the opposite side, there used to be old and cheaper Greek shops. The stoa is a symbol of the influence of the Modiano family and the Jewish community in the city. The Jewish shops and offices of the time were built in an area that was full of banks. Thus, their businesses gradually gained more value, as did those housed in Saul Stoa.

Info

• Address: E. Venizelou & V. Irakleiou St.

Bibliography