Ionian Bank

Panepistimiou and Pesmazoglou Sts, 1925

Architect
Anastasios Metaxas (1862-1937)



The Ionian Bank of Greece building belongs among the most important works of Anastasios Metaxas, the distinguished architect of the first quarter of the 20th century, who had studied at the Technical University of Dresden.
It consists of a semi-basement, ground floor and four upper floors, the last of which is set in. This is a stone structure with mixed structural elements, Jugendstil and Art Déco decorative motifs. The facades have the usual three-part division into base, trunk and crown. The trunk is organised rhythmically with pillars topped by modern-style capitals.
The main hall has a peristyle supported on rectangular piers bearing balconies. It is splendidly lit through a decorated skylight on the roof over the entire main section.
In 1958-59, when the Popular Bank building merged with that of the Ionian Bank, Constantinos Kapsambelis, the architect of the merge, and his associates made many changes to the interior of both buildings, but managed to retain their external form and the character of their main halls.

TRANSPORTATION