The following paradox occurs in Larisa. This is a city that, by changing its identity and rising in the class, allows its young heritage to slip away.

It is disappointing that the two-storey corner house of Kapetanos, in the center of Larissa, on Papanastasiou and Grigoriou V streets, opposite the church of St. Nicholas, has not been declared a protected monument. This is a charming house, one of the few remaining in Larissa, which, by the decision of the YPPOA, is not classified, due to the wooden language of the bureaucracy and the apparent lack of knowledge about the city of Larissa.

The house is owned by private individuals who clearly have a legal right to use their property. The question is what the Ministry of Culture and the municipality of Larissa are doing to protect the minimal buildings of architectural value or urban atmosphere in Larissa.

Suffice it to mention the historically important Pyrgos Harokopou, especially the beautiful twin houses on August 31st Street and a few more scattered houses that should be taken under protection with compensation to the owners in cases of private ownership.

Larisa is now a big city with a good market, an impressive cultural infrastructure, a new promenade among Ottoman monuments, an old theater in the center of the city around which its new identity will be organized. “Diazoma” Stavros Benou, with a focus on the head of the “City”, chooses Larissa as a model city (with characteristics that serve as a model of new sustainability) to lead the course of urban regeneration in our country.

And at the same time, there is no way to evaluate the existing building fund. And this weakness breeds even greater distrust of whether there is finally a desire to protect the latest urban heritage of Larisa. A city without surplus value is doomed to an average level, which ultimately gives rise to pockets of backwardness. Larisa has all the resources to cultivate new self-confidence, which in any case is led not only by her opportunities, but also by the international agenda of smart cities with all the emerging development and financing tools. But all this remains empty when the city fails to assess its local history and prioritize the various parameters of the new path.

I have repeatedly examined the captain’s house on walks with the elite members of Larisa’s Photo Gallery. This is a house that is condemned by the narrow perception of YPPOA as it is less than 100 years old (maybe it is… 95 years old) and, according to the sterile logic of the state authorities, it is located in an area with a newer construction and no visual contact with the neighboring preserved Nicodemus-Thomas . According to this logic, the neighborhood of Athens is also being destroyed (to this day). The state and local self-government, if they wanted, could, without harming the owners, make a symbolic, but at the same time significant gesture in favor of Larisa.

It was this house, as well as other notable buildings of Larissa, that was included in the list compiled in early 2021 jointly by Deputy Mayor, civil engineer Dino Diamantos and representatives of the Larissa Association of Architects and the Photo Gallery. Has anyone in town heard of the Larisa Architects Association? And what’s the point of this entry about historic buildings if it stays in a drawer? Larisa is one of the cities that, due to a number of circumstances, has lost the largest percentage of its historical appearance. It is disappointing that those in power fail to understand that the city urgently needs to preserve what remains of its historical character and create good modern architecture. Larisa deserves better.