Ziller 2 and Stefan Byzantiou, near the church of Agios Loukas, below Patision, the old house has been in ruins for decades. This is not just some kind of relic of old Athens, but a house that is now loved as ruins. Generations after generations experience the image of this house as if it were an urban antiquity, a lasting and oxymoronic impression. Between the awe of a dilapidated Athenian building and the sadness of its abandonment, all sorts of feelings are born in response to the broken heart of this decaying poetry seeping through the cracks of the city.

Chiller Street, which is a continuation of Agios Loukas Street, reaches the end of Patision Street, where it changes its name again. It passes through solid patches of old urbanism. It evokes memories of a homogeneous area with single and three-family houses, courtyards and many gardens, hidden or visible. At a time like this, the place was full of musk. Stories from another era…

But the existence of houses like those of Ziller and Stefanos Byzant leaves no room for memories. Recently I was interested in this. I first photographed him when I was still in school. And even then he was in a bad state. I read that it belongs to the Athens Nursing Home, its fate remains unknown.

If you are within the radius of his living space, you immediately understand that this is a special house. On the side of Stephanou Byzantiou, one block below Patision, you will see one of the most beautiful railings in Athens. The shamrock gate, a work of art, locked like rusty armor. It rests on exquisitely carved marble columns, showing that every part of this composition has been studied with skill, love, time and money. Home for city life.

The main entrance is on Ziller Street. The exterior door is green wood with hinges, as well as a skylight (natural air conditioning) through which street light entered the lobby. The door is crowned with a cornice supported by two pediments. Harmony is the rule. But also grace.

If you stand on the opposite pavement overlooking the Zillert façade, your gaze will follow the lines of the golden rule. The parts are divided into vertical elements, but the whole is light as a feather. The entrance door is engraved with the inscription of the old tenant (I. Tsakiris) and something encourages you to knock on the door, knowing that inside you will find spiders and shadows. Probably also furniture and newspapers, kitchen utensils and mattresses.

But what perhaps most gives this house a halo and warms it with a golden inner light is the color of the stucco. The stucco, painted in rusty ocher, carries the aromas of Rome and the sweet Mediterranean in the area of ​​Agios Loukas. It is a color that no perfect restoration can give birth to, because this color, like the pulp of ripe apricots and the trimmings of rusty keys, is what time has brought, it is the aura of Athens through the breath of the city.

There, at the corner of Ziller and Stefanos Byzantios streets, lies the once-buried bastion of city life. World of Patisia.