3.
The early years, 1950-1966
It was in the context of the above spirit that in 1954, the law 3213/54 governing the affairs of tourism was put into effect. This law included a provision about the allowance for construction of hotels "over and above the allowed construction height limits per sector" (καθ' υπέρβασιν του ισχύοντος ανά τομέα ανωτάτου ύψους οικοδομήσεως ) in tourist regions, in accordance to the need for big tourist hotel units that were then seen as one of the "locomotives of development", as Greece began to gain importance as a tourist destination at that time.
Among other buildings which were taller in comparison to their neighouring ones, (make it say, 5 or 7 floors instead of their three-storey neighbours
) there was a particular one which signified the beginning of the era of tall buildings in Athens. That was the
Athens Hilton Hotel, completed in 1963 (coincidentally, that was my birth year too !!! Ahhh the winds of karma are blowing in mysterious ways!!!). With a height of 65 metres distributed on 14 levels out of which 10 were allotted for guest rooms, 2 were used for the public spaces i.e. conferences and ballrooms (with the "Terpsichori" conference and ball room being the biggest at the time) and 2 being used as top lobby (where the famous top-notch "Galaxy Bar" on the 14th floor is still located offering an unbelievable view of Athens) and service floors, this hotel was the first highrise ever built in Athens. Still, it never gained the title for the first skyscraper of the city, as its horizontal dimension was much longer than its vertical one. On the other hand, its construction in relative proximity to the Acropolis and especially the Lycabettus Hill, created a lot of controversy at the time, given the apparent modernism in its design. True, the hotel is a landmark and at the time of completion symbolised the birth of modern Athens.
-The Athens Hilton immediately after its renovation (2003)
Since many years though and especially today, after its total renovation (2003) for the Olympics, the hotel and its neighbourhood (The so-known "Hilton area" – περιοχή Χίλτον" ) is considered one of the best in central Athens.
-View of the high class area surrounding the Hilton Hotel, as seen from the top lobby (12th floor) of the Divani Caravel hotel, also depicting the Lycabettus hill and illustrating the reasons for the early controversy about the construction of this hotel.
The next significant event was the announcement of construction of a new
hospital for the Red Cross, sometime during the early 1960's. The funny thing is that the building's frame topped out probably shortly after the Athens Hilton was completed or one or two years later (I need to check). We are talking about an 18-storey tall concrete frame clearly dominating the district of Ampelokipi where it blended quite well with the other 3-4 highrises that were (coincidentally? ) built later in the specific area. However, construction did not go on after the frame topped-out. To date, the rumour has it that the engineer of the building
committed suicide after he found out that the building was statically defective, probably because of engineering mistakes (No PC's and/ or experience of building such big projects at the time). The ghost frame of the structure remained until 1995 when it was demolished in order for a lowrise complex to be built in its place. But more on this later…
Also, a very significant development at the time was the completion of the
Greek Telecom building in 3rd September (Tritis Septemvriou) street. The building, although being only 12 stories tall, made a difference compared to the 5-6 storey neighbouring concrete blocks next to it, and its glass façade contributed to the overall impression. It must have been completed some time in 1966 or early 1967. Interestingly enough, it accommodated the first miniature Greek TV studios in the late 1960's, although it has to be 66 since to my understanding, the first trial broadcasts of Greek TV took place there.
All the above suggested that something was "on the move" in the mid-1960's, although obviously, the lack of prior experience and adequate resources at that time might have hampered the construction of taller buildings. However, I urge your attention to the fact that back in these days with the exception of Paris, Milan and possibly London, few cities in Europe (in fact, very few… ) could present something solid above 100m, with the exception of their cathedrals. In any case, the triggering of a real wave of highrise constructions in Athens (and a handful of other locations in Greece too) was associated with one of the most unfortunate events in modern Greek history, and it was probably because of this connection in the minds of some key decision makers (as well as many misinformed citizens too), decades ago, that although Greece appeared to be one of the most serious candidates for mass highrise construction in the southeastern Europe, the vertical development of this city (and potentially some others in Greece) witnessed an abrupt interruption and entered a downward spiral where recovery still seems to be a rather remote hypothetical construct.
4.
The Military Dictatorship (1967-1974) and Highrise Construction Boom (1974-1981) :
Reaching new heights in the wrong place and at the wrong time…
On 21 April 1967 a coup d' état took place in Greece, led by a group of Greek army colonels. Despite that it was not as bloody as others in Europe and elsewhere, the military junta never gained the real support of the people and it eventually collapsed in a dramatic manner in 1974. Notably, in a fashion typical in all dictatorships, the new rulers showed a keen interest in inducing an element of (sometimes ill-conceived) grandiosity in whatever plans they had about development in this country. A typical example of this megalomania was for instance the new Athens airport for which they wanted to either flatten the whole of the Makronissos Island close to the east coast of Attica (the prefecture where Athens, Piraeus and the Suburbs belong) and connect it with a bridge (and please don't laugh: Hong Kong did this in 1997
) off the area of Lavrion with the mainland, or to build a mega airport, three times the size of the existing one (that is, as large as the one in Dallas - Fort Worth, Texas
) with
four parallel runways 
in either the area of Tanagra, or in Pachi- Megara (West Attica) or in Spata (to the east, which is the location of the existing more reasonably sized new airport of Athens). Also, remind me to show you the plans for a multi-story airport (!!!!!
) for Short-Take-Off and Landing (STOL) Planes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seemed that, this notion of excess was also present in the minds of the dictators with regards to buildings, especially the ones to accommodate government and public services, as these would epitomise the supremacy of the Greek construction sector and indirectly, point the dynamism of the new state of affairs in Greece. In addition, it is said that many of the then big contractors were looking for an increase in the so-called "building and construction coefficients" that is, the percentage of the total over-ground floor area of a building over the area of the estate built. (In Greek: Συντελεστής δόμησης ο οποίος στην ουσία είναι ένα κλάσμα του οπoίου ο αριθμητής είναι η συνολική επιφάνεια των ορόφων του προς ανέγερση κτίσματος και παρονομαστής είναι η επιφάνεια του οικοπέδου ).
At that time it seemed that the pressures and the expectations were high and changes were imminent, as the building construction sector in Greece displayed a tremendous dynamism, making Greek and foreign observers to euphemistically talk about a "construction orgasm" (οικοδομικό οργασμό )
. And changes did eventually happen with the most dramatic being the partial abolishment of the height restrictions in certain areas. The measure was officially decreed as a provision of the new "development law" (αναπτυξιακός νόμος ) Α.Ν. 395/68 "on the heights of buildings and free construction" (in Greek: "Περί του ύψους των οικοδομών και της ελευθέρας δομήσεως" ), although the closest term notionally is: "on unrestricted construction". The law simply stated that a contractor might be allowed to build "over and above" the existing height limit restrictions in the area provided that the building would be free and not connected to any other building on all sides of the estate's perimeter.
It seemed that there were already many plans waiting on the drawing table with regards to the why's and how's such a law was imposed so hastily in the first place, just a year after the seizing of power by the dictators. This probably explains why the surprised Athenians one historic (for me
) morning in 1968 saw the bulldozers taking over the large piece of property on 2, Messogeion street. The construction site would probably go unnoticed –after all, since, as mentioned above, from the late 1950's everybody was talking about the new wave of construction that has stormed the city and was changing it –slowly but surely- into this sea of concrete white roofs that became its trademark from the 1960's onwards. But not this time, something bigger was in the making, for in this case one could see the proud announcement on the signs reading:
"ΑΝΕΓΕΡΣΙΣ
ΟΥΡΑΝΟΞΥΣΤΟΥ"
"ΠΥΡΓΟΣ ΑΘΗΝΩΝ"
"ΑΝΑΔΟΧΟΣ ΕΡΓΟΥ: ΑΛΒΕΡΤΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΗΜΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ ΑΕ"
"
SKYSCRAPER CONSTRUCTION"
"ATHENS TOWER"
"GENERAL CONTACTOR: ALVERTIS AND DIMOPOULOS SA"
Actually, Alvertis and Dimopoulos were already known for their completed projects, including the American Embassy in Athens, the Evgenidion Institution and Planetarium in Syggrou Avenue, and other high quality lowrise office buildings. They also had a number of projects completed in the Middle East, some of them being highrises too.
As time went by, the frame of the building started to rise above its 6-storey neighbours that seemed to be gradually dwarfed by the sheer size of the giant next to them.
-Picture of the
Athens Tower at the time of construction. Watch the sign for the new branch of Commercial Credit bank, now called "Alpha Credit Bank".
Source: "Αρχιτεκτονικά Θέματα" (Architecture in Greece, Vol. 6/72 )
In 1971 after three years of construction and many heartbeat palpitations of A&D's engineers (after all, the building was the first of its kind and the tallest in the Balkans-quite a pioneering construction at the time) the full 103 metre-tall edifice was ready to admit its first tenants. The building's architecture was representative of the "international style" and much reminiscent of the
Seagram Building in New York. The architects were two: Ioannis Vikelas and Ioannis Kymbritis, of which, Vikelas was bound to become famous and successful later employed solely by Babis Vovos, the most successful of the new generation of building contractors that emerged after 1980.
Picture of Athens Tower (103m, 1971) Athens' tallest building to date, as seen from Vasilissis Sophias Avenue:
Also, not forgetting that Athens belongs to medium to high intensity earthquake zone, the building employed the latest technology of the time (and has gone through major quakes in 1981 and 1999 without breaking a sweat, eh… a glass, sorry
, although as you can see its exterior surfaces
are covered in glass ).
Thanks to its design, the building itself, looks some 20-30m taller than it actually is. Even now, the impact it creates to somebody looking up from its base to the top cannot be created by any other "human scale" lowrise office development in this city. Its design, despite being boxy, still passes successfully the test of time; You can only partly understand the feeling of the above by looking at the following picture:
Very few things have been written about the significance of this building, which has become the hate symbol of a whole new generation of skyscraper haters in Greece that turned up in the early 1980's, with their negativism spread evenly between the government, as well as the ranks of professionals, architects and city planners alike. In any case, the building's boxy shape made sure that the skyline of the district of Ampelokipi, some 5 km from the Acropolis and 1.5 km from the Lycabettus hill to the north-east of the municipality of Athens, would never be the same again.
-View of the building also depicting part of the skyline in Ampelokipi, Athens, as seen from Hymettus mountain.
For some additional pictures of the building click
here
Aerial view of the densely built Ampelokipi district depicting the Athens tower in the middle. The observant eye may catch the green coloured football stadium of Panathinaikos FC towards the upper middle part of the picture.
© The Air Club of Serres, Greece
The overwhelming presence of this building was immediately felt and recorded in the press at the time (early 70's). I remember the "Tachydromos" magazine having a story about it some time in 1974, talking about some small houses that were still a few blocks away from it, the last remains of another epoch that even back then, was quickly fading away… . Other papers were talking about a fear of "manhattanization" of Athens, while, when in 1975 the movie "Earthquake" starring Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner reached the Athenian cinemas, this building was part of many "what if" scenarios appearing in newspaper movie reviews. Also, the fire department of the city of Athens talked about their incapacity back then to reach above the 8th floor of a building and the stories continued when another disaster movie, "The Towering Inferno", starring Paul Newman, also hit the Athenian movie theatres in 1976.
OK, here you see a night shot of the building and the Lycabettus Hill, taken from the area of Goudi, to grasp an understanding of the impact of its presence, even today…
In reality, when in 1981 and 1999 Athens was hit respectively by two serious quakes measuring some 6+ on the Richter scale each, nothing was heard of the building in contrast to many lowrises, which on both occasions, either collapsed or were severely damaged because of the shakes. Probably the haters of the building would like it to collapse so as not to obstruct the "human scale" of its gray-walled lowrise neighbours. To their disappointment, the building stood and still stands unscratched
.
-View of the building from the park at the crossroads of Alexandras – Vasilissis sophias Avenue.
It was because of that building that, at the beginning of the 1970's as a child I actually started developing an interest about skyscrapers, and what a fascination it was when I would discover a new one piercing the skies of its immediate vicinity in Athens. You see, I doubt that the Greeks here (or at least the younger forumers) have felt the fascination that I was feeling back in those days where I could see that gradually the Athens greater area but especially the district of Ampelokipi was seeing this type of development when, immediately after the completion of the Athens Tower, a handful of other ones, inferior both in height as well as designs were gradually completed in the area until 1978, and every time I would discover a new one of them I would cheer and have my own private party since, back at the time, there was no Internet and I was the only one -as it seems – to be taking notice of what was happening.
That's why I can understand the rest of the Turkish, Polish, British, Austrian, Latvian, Eastern Europeans, Western Europeans and all else that they see their cities transformed and lifted to a higher level.
Anyway, at the time the military Junda fell in 1974, the "construction orgasm" was still present, albeit reduced in intensity compared to the early 1960's frenzy. With regards to skyscrapers, it seemed that Athens was ready to go on to the next phase with a number of buildings already completed (Athens Tower, Apollo Tower), a large number of others on the verge of topping out or at various stages of construction (Aghia Varvara Chalandriou Residence complex, Ministry of Public Order, President Hotel, Greek Telecom (OTE) Head offices in Kifissias Avenue etc.).
These are some skyline views of the area of Ampelikipi, in my view the only "real skyline of Athens. The names of the four tallest buildings from left to right and the years of completion are given below:
Apollo Tower (1973),
Athens Expo Center (1979),
President Hotel (1978) and of course,
Athens Tower 1.
Views from the Hilton Hotel Top Lobby, "Galaxy Bar", 14th level (floor)
-Narrow angle view focusing on the four tallest buildings:
-View depicting Vasilissis Sophias Avenue where the Athens Megaron Concert Hall is also visible:
As this is the best possible highrise skyline shot in Athens, I have provided you already with a bigger version of this picture
here.
-Narrow angle view from Caravel Hotel
-Broad angle view from the top lobby (12th floor) Caravel Hotel:
Apart from the central districts such as Ampelokipi, the highrises had already started to move towards the periphery of the city. Look for instance at this view from the Hilton Hotel depicting the
Ministry of Public Order (1978) and a couple of residential towers in Cholargos, some 800m from my place. All built before 1978.
Also, here is a view of the tallest residential in Greece with 24 floors, the Apollo Tower:
Also, in Piraeus, a 25-storey tower, namely the
Piraeus Trade Center had its frame completed in 1976 still remains on hold although it had its façade clad with glass in 1986 but never opened for business. In 2002, there was some publicity about J&P Avax to have bought it for completion and commercial use but nothing was heard ever since.
-Piraeus Tower as it is today (I took this pic in 2002)
-Piraeus skyline as seen from the Profitis Ilias Hill (2002). It remained the same for over 20 years.
From what we see it is understandable that the future seemed bright and sunny especially since there were so many projects underway or completed. I was in my high school years then and among my other interests, I was frequently going to the rooftop terrace of my house and looked towards the direction of the Athens Tower and the Apollo Tower and things looked promising. After all you see, Papagos, the green, low-density and low-rise suburb that I live, is close to the district of Ampelokipi where the tallest of the towers are located. Consequently these highrises are visible from many spots in the area, especially from the house terraces. One of these views is depicted in the following picture, taken from the fourth floor of a new block of flats close to my house. Observe the roof gardens in the terraces in some houses and the towers in the background, perhaps the only picture you'll ever see from Athens combining suburbia with the closest thing of a "downtown" skyline
, which also included the Acropolis (in the far left) and the Lycabettus hill (in the middle:
And another one perhaps remotely reminiscing of a US city suburbia with the downtown towers in the background…
Yes, one may say that I was lucky to have grown with the prospects of a taller Athens. But all this had to end and it ended violently. Until 1978, all major highrises regardless of their size and complexity had been built, all but one.
The Atrina Centre, was not completed until 1980. Built by the
Babis Vovos SA company as phase II of the overall project called Atrina Centre also including another 8-storey building. It was built in a half-empty area on a rather quiet spot on the then 4-lane Kifissias Avenue (no resemblance with the ultra6-lane highway it is now), as Babis Vovos, the contractor had envisisaged even from the end of the 1970's that this part of Athens would be the new business centre of the expanding Greek capital. And he was right.
-The Atrina Centre from across Kifissias Avenue
This elegant 20-storey office tower symbolised the beginning of a new age where better and more aesthetically appealing towers would be built, this time probably grouped in zones allowing the construction of such buildings with proper regulations. All that to avoid some mistakes of the past, where, many of ones built during the 1970's, looked like vertical extensions of the already existing concrete blocks of flats. The way things looked back then, one might expect that the completion of the Atrina Centre would probably mark the beginning of construction of a new generation of glass towers that would be spread along the newly developing areas outside central Athens looking perhaps like small versions of "La Defence". Certain areas like Kifissias Avenue (click
here to see how it looks today) to the north and Syggrou Avenue towards the Phaleron Delta in the coastal zone where the Atrina Centre and the brand new OTE HQ had already been built looked quite promising so as to undertake the role of the new highrise business centres of the future. Yes, Atrina Centre at that time was the face of the future. A future that alas, was never bound to come, although it was difficult for me or any other interested observer to know it back then. But, enough with the talk. Now I believe it's time to categorise and examine these buildings in groups to see what they were and how they looked (and look) like. Their typology can be described as follows: