The Logothetopoulos apartment building
Today Ministry of Culture office building
Zaimi, Bouboulinas & 22-6 Kountouriotou Sts,
Athens, 1930-32
Architect
Kyprianos Biris (1907-1990)
Behind the Archaeological Museum in the centre of
Athens is the modern Logothetopoulos building, one of the early applications
of the new rationalist handling of the middle-class population’s
housing problem. It is a work by architect and NTUA professor Kyprianos
Biris that was recently bought and remodelled by the Ministry of Culture
to house its main offices.
The building originally contained 40 apartments distributed over a ground
floor, four upper floors and a penthouse. Vertical circulation was served
by four staircases. On the ground floor there are two lateral arcades
that divide the building into three parts. Access to the entrances of
the different parts of the building is through the arcades.
On plan, the building is articulated in a typical and rational way.
Its volume is a plain rectangular cube. The simplicity, the symmetrical
arrangement of the openings and the two vertical columns of bay windows
are the main characteristics of the façades.
