KRT009
Address: 9 Karatinou str., 10552 Athens, GRArchitect: tbc
Year of construction: 1962-65
Owner: mixed ownershipLevels: 9, 1 mezzanine, 1 basement
Building area: 4200,00 m2
Coverage: 100 %
Researchers: Sonia Tsakni
The building is situated on the corner of Karatinou and Athinas Street, opposite the City Hall of Athens and Kotzia Square. It was built between 1960-65. It’s a modernist concrete building, with recessed pillars that create continuous windows on the facade. Two red metal boxes with windows protrude from the first floor on Athinas and Karatinou Street.
The modern history of Kotzia Square begins around 1860 when the first contractions appeared on the square, which was then named Loudovic Square in honor of Loudovic the I of Bavaria. Since then, it has changed names many times, becoming “Municipal Theater Square” in 1888 after the inauguration of the Municipal Theater. In 1940, then-mayor Kostas Kotzias decided to demolish the theater, and the name of the square changed again to Post Office Square, then again to Town Hall Square, and again to National Bank Square. In 1951 it was renamed Kotzia Square, which is still used today even though since 1977 the official name of the square is National Resistance Square.
The square used to be full of trees, but in 1985 a big project to create an underground car park on multiple squares in Athens, including Kotzia, began. The initial promise to the public that the trees were going to return to the square was not realized in part due to poor construction that in the end could not hold on to the weight of the soil and trees. Thus, the square remains an empty concrete surface.
KRT009 analysis booklet
