Michailidis Apartment Building

Zaimi & Stournari Sts, Athens, 1933-34

Architects
Polyvios Michailidis (1907-1960)
Thucydides Valentis (1908-1982)



The apartment block built by the Michailidis Brothers is among the benchmark works of radical modernism in interwar Athens. It is a work by the accomplished Cypriot architect Polyvios Michailidis and his distinguished colleague and professor at the NTUA Thucydides Valentis. The position of the building alongside the NTUA School of Architecture contributed to the systematic study and estimation of its merit. The apartment building has six levels: ground floor, four upper floors and penthouse. On each typical floor there are two apartments. The last floor and the penthouse have duplex apartments (on two floors). Both the organisation of the plans and the treatment of the façades constitute authentic expressions of the international Modern Movement.
The line of the elevations is simple. The Zaimi façade is dominated by lengthwise continuous bands of windows with small balconies on the right edge of the building. In contrast, the façade on Stournari presents greater variety, combining oblong balconies and bay windows. The rectangular shape of the building is supplemented on the retiré level by a pergola.
The materials used in shaping the façades are artificial cement, the railings on the balconies which are of metal grid and the wooden doors, and window frames with rolling shutters. The building has a plain metal front door.

TRANSPORTATION