The sight of the historical ruins at 3 Fedia Street, now surrounded by scaffolding, evokes a sense of awe and relief. After decades of complete desolation, regardless of whether it is one of the most historic buildings in the center of Athens, the house of Anton Prokes von Osten, also known as the headquarters of the Hellenic Conservatory (the inscription on the facade of which has rusted), is saved by the actions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

A preliminary restoration study has recently been approved by the Central Board of New Monuments, which provides for highlighting the historic core of the building by removing additions that were made for various practical reasons during successive changes in use. The restoration of the painted ceilings and all the artistic decoration is expected with particular interest, since the house of Prokes von Osten in its heyday (late 1830s – late 1840s) was a famous salon in Athens.

Some of the original parts will be used as a guideline for an accurate restoration. Painted plasters from the first period can convey the image of the building of that era.

Now a realistic restoration of the building on schedule will not only provide a historic building in Athens, but will also help to densify the urban fabric around Phidias, where a number of important buildings, landmarks and spiritual sites can be found.

The Faydee building, although preserved from 1977, has fallen into disrepair. Its imminent last-minute rescue (following the collapse of part of its masonry last July) simultaneously highlights the larger problem of abandoned monuments, many of which are not as well-known, visible and central as the Feydi monument.

The house of Prokes von Osten, later the roof of the Greek Conservatory, one of the oldest houses in Athens, was saved thanks to the intervention of the Ministry of the Interior.

This historic house is primarily associated with the creation of modern Athens, as it was built around 1836, when Feidiou Street was outside the small capital. Its history is connected with the European diplomatic presence in the first Othonic period (through the Austrian ambassador and philhellene Anton Prokes von Osten, 1795-1876) it passed into the possession of the people’s benefactor Eleni Tositz, and then Eric Schliemann’s daughter Andromachida, who, thanks to her marriage to Leonta Meloy, the son of the Trikup statesman Michael Mel, had a public presence in Athens).

European neighborhood

The presence of Eric Schliemann, as well as his compatriots Ernesto Ziller and William Dörpfeld, was strong in Feidi, where the German Archaeological Institute was built in the 1880s. Further down the university, the Schliemann Mall (where the Ideal Cinema was later built on a vacant lot) was Schliemann’s holding, designed (and unfinished on the façade) by his friend Ziller. This 19th-century European neighborhood of Athens was founded by the house of Anton Prokes von Osten. Below, at the University and Hippocrates, was the house of the Bavarian court physician Lindermeier, a house with a closed facade, demolished in 1953. The building at Feydi 3, which originally housed the living quarters with the cistern and ancillary buildings. , attributed to the German architect Gustav Adolf Linders, designed by the Austrian Karl Rezner (1804-1869). Now he is compiling an informal trilogy with the house of Sutsu-Ralli, Panepistimo and Korai and the old building of the Museum of the City of Athens, where Otho and Amalia lived, as minimal remnants of private houses from the period 1835-1845. in the new extensions of central, now Athens.

Today they bear little resemblance to the past. For decades, the younger generation has associated the building with the Greek Conservatory, which was founded in 1919 under the leadership of Manolis Kalomiris. (Kalomoiris remained until 1926, when he founded the National Conservatory. Until 1980, he was succeeded as director of the Hellenic Conservatory by T. Pindios, K. Sfakianakis, M. Varvoglis, Ant. Evaggelatos, G. Georgiadis, K. Gaitanos.) This is a historical the educational core, which also had an art program, highlighted personalities such as Dimitris Mitropoulos, but even this dimension was not enough to protect the building for the last 45 years. The Greek Conservatory is also associated with the personality of the German pianist Lina von Lautner, who in 1900 determined the musical life of Athens. The Greek Conservatory was born from her own initiatives and musical movements. Lautner had previously also collaborated with Georgios Nazos in the reorganization of the Athens Conservatory, but from 1899 she founded the Lautner Conservatory, housed in the then house of Mela, Feidi 3. There, a core of professors and Manolis Kalomiris created the Hellinikon Conservatory in 1919. .

All these layers of history exist at Phedia Street 3. Otho’s Athens, with its many forgotten or vaguely remembered stories, is being dug up anew.