Serpieri’s Building
One interesting past project was a report about a possible restoration of Serpieri’s Mansion and its adjacent buildings.
We took some rather intriguing pictures as part of that project, never before published, and with that as an excuse we decided to write a bit about the story of this significant structure. This story focuses only on the building itself. Perhaps in another article, we could review the overall project as well.
The mansion is located in the heart of Athens, at the intersection of Panepistimiou Ave. and Edward Law St. It belonged to Giovanni Baptista Serpieri, an Italian mining engineer, who owned and ran the mines of Lavrio during the mid 19th century.
The plot was acquired in 1873. Despite the area already having important buildings such as the Academy, it was mainly occupied by marble yards and masons’ workshops. However, this was meant to change dramatically. The district turned out to be of great significance, as it now belongs to a notable part of central Athens.
The building was completed in 1884 by the architect Anastasios Theofilas. It housed both Serpieri’s business and residence. Its features suggest that the building falls under the architectural style of neoclassicism, while its rich decoration refers to baroque. It was three stories high, with a mezzanine that served as Serpieri’s office, above the arches of the entrance. This distinction of use became clear when Theofilas created two entrances and chose two different architectural morphologies for the facades.
The first entrance was on the front of the building leading to the ground level, where Serpieri held his economic activities. To emphasize the business use of the building, the facade was simple, plain, with minimum exterior decor.
The second way in is an arched gate on the right side of the building as viewed by Panepistimiou Ave. that leads to a private carriageway which in turn leads to the main entrance of the mansion. Right above, the mezzanine provides cover for the main entrance and housed Serpieri’s office.
The main entrance was on the side of the building leading, via a monumental staircase, to the floors above where he housed his social and private life.
This section, has a more open, luxurious approach and is heavily decorated. This distinction extends to the floors above, dividing the facade. Other than that, facades are symmetrical; the windows and all the other elements repeat themselves on either side of a main axis.
The same radial symmetry appears in the plan arrangement as well. The most interesting element in the plan is the 2.30m marble staircase that leads to the floors above. Above it, a vertical void that runs up to a glass skylight gives a lightweight — almost ethereal — atmosphere to the space, despite the monumental character of the staircase.
Between 1890 and 1903, for reasons that remain unknown, an extra floor was added. Its facade is much simpler than the facade of the floors below. The addition of a fourth floor was not included in the original plans; the cornice of the third floor was meant to crown the building as the topmost element. Furthermore, during the same period, a small, one or two stories high building was built, located on Edward Law St., tangent to the original one. A series of changes and additions followed.
In 1929 A.T.E Bank acquired Serpieri’s building and in 1933 the ground floor was remodelled. In order to create more open space, two masonry walls were replaced by four concrete columns. A floor above Serpieri’s office was also added, completing the previous floor addition. Between 1936 and 1937 more floors were added, resulting in a building five stories high. In 1955 the small dwelling on Law St. was acquired and a small connecting structure was constructed. Flooring upgrades, room rearrangements and electrical installations were also completed at that time.
In 1966 A.T.E Bank decided to demolish the building and replace it with a modern one. Fortunately, a year later, the building was declared as heritage of special architectural and historic interest. The demolition was postponed until 1970, when it was removed from the list of heritage buildings. Eventually, after four long years, it made its way back to the list and thus was saved a second and (hopefully) final time.
In 1979, the murals were revealed and restored to their original form. In 2001 the whole building was restored and repainted. In 2002 the glass skylight of the staircase was damaged by a storm, but everything was once again restored.
All these shifts vividly showcase a very representative sample of the process that the city of Athens and the Greek society as a whole went through. They show how business thinking evolved from the lush exhibition of prosperity and power of the 19th century, through the extreme space saving and spartan, bureaucratic ugliness of the mid 20th century, to the “out with the old” fashion that permeated the Greek society from the late 50’s and up to the mid 90’s and finally to today’s respect to heritage and recent history. This business thinking, has been most visibly articulated in, but in no way limited to, office architecture.
Serpieri’s building is more than an old office building. It is an ensemble of historical events, economic circumstances and different human necessities. All these are engraved in its corpus and are expressed through its different architectural elements, materials and unique atmosphere. Knowing how it survived till nowadays, brings the building closer to being an experiential journey of memory, rather than just a monument.
