In all the neighborhoods of Athens (and Piraeus, and other cities) I constantly come across this charming phenomenon. Urban renaissance, after 1952 until about 1965, a wave of renewal driven by necessity. Back in the day, 1950s tenements were a part of the city that didn’t cause much excitement, at least not to those who hurried past them. I noticed them too in the years when my eye caught on neoclassical houses, and although I liked many of them, I let them go without leaving a trace.

At least that’s what I thought. On Patision Street, in Kolonaki, in Kypseli, in Pedion tou Areos, in Pagrati, in Ampelokipou, in Ilisia, and more or less everywhere, this giant sleeps. Legacy of the post-war revival. If there is one thing that future generations will ardently love (and it has already begun), it is the elegance of modernism embraced by the bourgeoisie in 1955 and 1960. This aesthetic has been devalued (and for ideological reasons), but if you extract it from the Athenian microclimate and include it in the international flow of ideas, you can easily understand that it is a treasure.

In the streets of Karneadou, Alopekis, Fokionos Negri, Eptanisou, Mavrommation, Loukianou, Patriarch Joachim and Anagnostopoulos, the Athenian upper middle class left behind apartment buildings with impressive entrances that correspond to the aesthetics of international modernism of the mid-20th century. After cleaning, polishing and a new look, all these Athens will shine and speak to hearts.

I often notice how much there is in our capital that is ignored by its official identity. Here is the entrance to Asklipiou and Didotou streets by architect-stylist Dimitris Papazisis, here is another one, to Bucharest and Solonos, with a beautiful two-tone facade of an apartment building. These buildings are 65-70 years old, they are rooted in the image of Athens, generations have grown up in them. In Valaoritou 1 is a world of beauty. The I.S. Vassiliou apartment building at 52 Vasilissis Sofias has an aura of new aesthetics. The first apartment buildings of Nikos Valsamakis bear a cultural imprint. Materials, colors, shapes coincide with fashion, with New Look Dior, with furniture and lighting, with fabrics and cars of 1955-1965. Stand at the entrance at Andriu Street 2. And at Mikhail Voda 138. And at Kypselis 21.

The whole world that is next to us. Inside our family stories. And that, if paid attention to and awakened, it can not only beautify the city, but also serve as the tourist identity of Athens. I think of the night-lit porches of these apartment buildings, with lamps and sofas from that modern language era, like the covers of popular magazines that once hung on newsstands.

The connection of this omnipresent aesthetic of the 50s and 60s through the culture of everyday life with Athenian apartment buildings (and mansions of large cities in the suburbs) is a little-studied and even less illuminated cultural heritage. Athens is the international capital of modernism and if they believe in it, it will make others see it, enjoy it, buy it. How many more laps will time take to see so many aspects of Athenian uniqueness…

Those who wish to share stories and family photos about old Athens (and other cities) I will gladly accept on [email protected] or mailed to a newspaper.