A digital representation of the Megaro Athinogenous, as it will look at the end of 2026. The new building will be made of metal, with the folded facade being shaped by bioclimatic windows. It will also have a 100-seat amphitheater, stretching from the ground floor down to the basement. The contrast between the original and the new structure makes for a striking ensemble that showcases the historical building and offers a modern space. [Athens Creative]
It’s what inevitably happens when decades go by and an important building on a downtown thoroughfare remains plunged in darkness, left to go to ruin behind tattered tarpaulin and shaky scaffolding: People walk past, they become accustomed to the ugliness and eventually they eject it from memory, both their own and that of the city.
The Megaro Athinogenous, or the Athinogenes Mansion, is precisely one such case. Built between 1875 and 1880, it is one of the most important buildings on Athens’ Stadiou Street, yet few residents today remember it looking even halfway decent enough to appreciate the ambitious architectural concept that connects the Ionic pilasters on the facade with the Baroque elements of the crowning, likely the work of French architect Eugene Troump.
The recent wave of revitalization sweeping through Stadiou Street will, fortunately, also usher the Megaro Athinogenous into a new era, fully restored and ready to embrace the 21st century. Its ambitious transformation will showcase the original townhouse, turning it into a centerpiece on Stadiou, where it will be backed by a state-of-the-art, eight-story building at the rear of the plot. The new structure will feature a folded facade made of specialized soundproof, bioclimatic glass panels with silk-screen printing, seamlessly and elegantly bridging 1880 and 2025.
The restoration is already under way, on a design by Athens Creative, the architectural firm behind the high-caliber redesign of Nymphon Square in the southern Athens seaside suburb of Vouliagmeni (2021).
The original townhouse’s history is a reflection of the changing times in Athens. It is, in fact, the only survivor of a trifecta of high-end buildings (along with the Vouros and Skouloudis mansions on Syntagma Square) commissioned by the families after which they are named, families that represented the burgeoning upper class of the newly established Greek capital, that were connected to each other and that had access to capital from abroad. These connections were also evident in the buildings’ forms.
The Megaro Athinogenous, for its part, went on to house the Ottoman Bank in the late 19th century until it was abandoned and left to ruin, before coming into the ownership, in 1971, of the Historical & Ethnological Society of Greece, which wanted to find a use for the building. The idea matured over the years and in the mid-1990s, the society backed an architectural study that proposed keeping only the facade of the original townhouse and erecting a modern, eight-story building behind it. The scheme caused an immediate backlash from the architectural community, prompting the Culture Ministry’s Central Council for Modern Monuments to uphold a petition for the building to be listed, as a whole, for preservation as a “work of art.”
The scheme for its development failed and the problems that were building up from its disuse were greatly exacerbated by a fire in 2004. A few years later, in 2008, the mansion was bought by shipowner George Prokopiou, who set about developing the property.
Talking with Athens Creative architects Alexandros Avlonitis and Aggeliki Anagnostopoulou about the central concept of the new design, it becomes clear that the cornerstone of the mansion’s new era is the handling of the relationship between the two buildings, old and new, with the goal of preserving the hall as an autonomous architectural entity.
Moreover, while the new building could have been constructed vertically at the minimum permissible distance from the mansion, sufficient open ground-level space for a courtyard has been maintained between the two structures. This ensures an unobstructed, circular flow around the original townhouse, facilitated by its two porticoes. Instead of a partial connection between the two buildings, a point-based connection was designed, via an aerial bridge on the first floor.
“The recessed design of the ground floor allows for an expansion of the open space, marking the pivotal point between the two buildings. This enhances spatial quality and offers improved views of both the Athinogenes Mansion and the new structure,” explains Avlonitis. “Additionally, the treatment of the new building’s facade, with its vertical ‘folds,’ serves a dual purpose: On one hand, it ensures optimal conditions – such as natural lighting, heat and ventilation – for the lower floors and ground level; on the other, it creates the illusion of a lower building, better aligned with the scale of the Athinogenes Mansion. At the same time, the gradual recession of the floors upwards from the top of the preserved building creates an uninterrupted line of vision to the mansion, both from lower and higher vantage points. Moreover, by recessing the floors above the height of the preserved structure, the facade is drawn away from its boundaries and, consequently, from Stadiou Street. As a result, the new building is almost entirely hidden from pedestrians’ view.”
The architect adds that the design and functionality of the ground floor are further enhanced by the inclusion of a 100-seat amphitheater in the new building, which extends from the ground level to the basement. Finally, regarding the new uses of the complex, which is expected to open to the public by the end of 2026, these will primarily cater to a wide audience, including office spaces, educational facilities and more.