The archive of "Ergoleptiki" passed to the National Library sheds light on the era of the construction boom
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Six duplexes in the refugee settlement Legs her Nea Ionia, year of construction 1927. The settlement of Ekali that began to take shape in 1922 with infrastructure works, roads, squares, water supply and the construction of the first ten houses in 1924. Construction of houses and mansions for the purpose of resale in Kipoupoli Kypriadis, agreement signed in December 1923. And not only that. Digging through her archive "Ergoleptiki S.A.", one of its most important construction companies Interwar, one is transported to the Athens of that period, traces of which are still evident in this city.
Or to put it in the way of the archaeologist and coordinator of Monumenta Irene Gratsias, “thanks to this rich archive that was saved intact, recording all the stages of a construction – the financial offers and the construction process from the plans and betas to project delivery–, it's like opening the door and entering the company's offices. To look at the plans in the drawing rooms, works of well-known architects and civil engineers of the time, and from the windows to observe the society of the time – the workers working in the building, the craftsmen who were related to the construction, the bourgeoisie asking for a house from the modern material, reinforced concrete". Monumenta, an organization that aims to protect the architectural heritage, has edited and documented the archive 50% to date.
The Athens of the interwar period had just finished the Great War and the capital was trying to coexist with a triumph and a disaster, housing the refugees and guaranteeing the rising, well-to-do townspeople to live a European life back home. A life safe and durable, as if made of cement. Moreover, "Ergoleptiki" represented in Greece the "largest house in the world" in reinforced concrete, the French Hennebique. The end of stone buildings was visible.
"Reinforced concrete projects are being built everywhere" advertised a poster of "Ergoleptiki", which over the years undertook and built private and public projects, from the house of Eleftherios Venizelos on Vasilissis Sofias Street to the new buildings of Dromokaitei and Evangelismos hospital. From the extension of "Great Britain" and the "Cecil" hotel in Kifissia to the German School, the Karolos Fix factory in Syngrou and the Mills of Agios Georgios in Keratsini and much more.
"It's like opening the door and entering the company's offices - and through the windows observing the society of that time," says archaeologist Irini Gratsia.
The company's file was found and bought by the collector Yiannis Lambrou. It consists of thousands (over 100,000) of documents, architectural plans, topographical maps, photographs, letters, administrative documents, accounts and advertising materials, dating from 1920 to 1956, documenting the company's important work. With the start of the Second World War, its work was drastically reduced, while after the war it was transformed into a commercial company.
The specific file, a valuable source of knowledge about interwar architecture, the construction sector, interwar cities, is included from the beginning of June 2023 in the collections available for study at the National Library of Greece (NBE). Its delivery by Monumenta to EBE marks the completion of a two-year cooperation program between the two bodies, with the aim of classifying, recording and partially preserving and digitizing the above material, with the donation of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) and the assistance in the classification of the "Taxis Archives" rescue company of historical records.
“Two years in a world full of knowledge, emotions, human stories and relationships,” says Ms. Gracia, “a multidisciplinary task that included sorting, preserving and scanning about half of the archive's material, which was offered as a gift to EBE fully documented and digitized".
As part of the program, the permanent exhibition "Tracing human presence and life" was created on the ground floor of the EBE. The exhibition includes surveillance material, original evidence, touch screen and video, drawing on a section of the "Ergoleptiki" archive.
*Cover photo: Prezani and Tabakopoulou Buildings, Vasilissis Sofias 55-59. Photo of the buildings after their completion. [CONTRACT FILE]
Her Maros Vasiliadou
Source: kathimerini