Kallithea: The development of an exceptional settlement close to Athens

The first settlers in Kallithea and their development until the beginning of the 20th century

Kallithea had been established since 1884 [1]. The architectural plan for the Athens’ new southern suburb namely characterized by a mostly flat relief was approved in 1885 (Figure 1) with its given-name “Kallithea”. Indeed, only a few hills interspersed among the low geographical relief.

Photo 1: Approval of the plan for the creation of the Athenian suburb “Kallithea”

Source:  ΦΕΚ 3Α/12.01.1885

Kallithea means literally «which offers a splendid or beautiful view» is derived from the Greek words “kalos” (splendid or beautiful) and “view”.  Specifically, the name of the area defines the magnificent view of Kallithea towards the Saronic Gulf. The beautiful view, the short distance from Athens, and its healthy climate are the three main factors that attracted the Building Company S.A. that created the settlement. The company chose the specific area in order to construct an exceptional, for the Greek case, suburb that would be equivalent to the working-class districts of France (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού, 2006). The president of the Building Company, who gave the name Kallithea to the area, was Efthimios Kechagias (Κασιάνης, 1996)

The aim of the Building Company S.A. was to create a working-class neighbourhood as a solution to the increasing need for good quality and affordable housing (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού, 2006). The housing conditions for the working class at the beginning of the 20th century were characterised as “miserable” (Λεοντίδου, 2001), so the needs of that population group were urgent, considering that the two Balkan Wars and World War I restricted to a great extent the country’s financial resources (Leontidou, 1990).

To begin with, the Building Company S.A. bought 910 acres in the area (between the modern districts of Harokopou and Agia Eleousa), where the first core of the settlement was planned. Prospective landlords / homeowners (mainly workers) would be facilitated in buying a property, receiving a loan from the company. After making a deposit, they would be able to pay off this loan through monthly small instalment payments at low interest rates. The company’s goal was to design the area using the Hippodamian (orthogonal grid) Plan (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού, 2006).

Photo 2: The first Town Planning of Kallithea which was ultimately not implemented

Source: Κασιάνης, 1996:17

Finally, this ambitious plan was never implemented as its designers inspired it (Photo 2). The main reasons were the lack of sufficient funds, the death of the plan’s conceptor (Κασιάνης, 1996) and the financial inadequacy of the Company (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού, 2006). Nonetheless, during its future development and expansion, Kallithea conserved an hippodamian city plan which makes this suburb an exceptional case in Athens.

In order to deal with the financial problems that arose, the company sold the plots at low prices. Finally, the goal of the Building Company S.A. was never completed. Instead, Kallithea became a summer settlement for prosperous Athenian residents (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού 2006, 61) (Photo 3). Ernst Ziller was the architect who undertook the construction of the first houses. Residents were attracted to Kallithea due to the privileged location of the area and the availability of land. Gradually, the area began to change from a summer settlement location to a place of permanent residency, mainly because the quality of life was better than in Athens (ibid.).

Photo 3: The first two houses built in Kallithea belonged to Giorgos Filaretos and Laskaris Laskaridis (right and left respectively)

Photo: Καρδαμίτση-Αδάμη, 2003: 11

At the beginning of the 20th century, the social physiognomy of the area began to change. The area turned from a place of residence for high socio-economic strata into one for broader middle-and lower-working classes [2]. The new residents of Kallithea were lawyers, teachers, pharmacists, painters, soldiers, senior civil servants, architects, landowners, brokers, building contractors, grocers, bakers, and coal merchants (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού 2006, 65). Also, among the new residents were internal migrant farmers who settled in Kallithea from various regions of Greece. The newly arrived populations, who were farmers, worked either in the fields and gardens around Kallithea or as stockmen in the cowsheds of the area. Some others worked in municipal slaughterhouses and factories that gradually began to settle in the area (although at the beginning of the 20th century, their number was limited) (ibid.).

This change in terms of the characteristics of the new residents settling in the area was reflected in the quality and size of the houses. The newly-built houses were less luxurious than the previous ones (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού, 2006). The Building Enterprise Company, which was established in 1909, undertook to continue the work of building houses in the area. Thus, the company constructed 50 two-story detached houses in the northern part of Kallithea (the Harokopou area) in a place different from the original core, where the first residents settled. Thus, a form of horizontal social segregation was created. The poorest socio-professional strata were living on the ground floor houses, the middle ones in the Harokopou area, in houses of the best quality and architecture, while the upper socio-professional strata had already, from the previous period, been settled in the stately homes that had been constructed for this purpose, in the area between Harokopou and Agia Eleousa (Λερίου & Μουρουγκλού 2006: 65, 68) (see Map 1 the first core of houses between Harokopou and Agia Eleousa areas, while some facilities scattered in the Tzitzifies area are observed).

Settlement of Asia Minor Refugees in Kallithea

The settlement of refugees from Asia Minor [3], affected the development of Kallithea, as it happened with Athens, Piraeus, and other cities in Greece (Λεοντίδου 2001, see more Myofa 2023). The needs for housing of the newly arrived population in the country −approximately 1.5 million refugees from Asia Minor, Pontus, and Thrace− were very intense. Therefore, for the housing rehabilitation of refugees, whole areas were used as settlements (Μυωφά & Σταυριανάκης 2019). So, the development of the area as a suburb of Athens was paused due to the need for housing for the refugees.

In 1925, Kallithea which was part of the Athens Municipality was separated from it and obtained the status of community. In 1933, due to the increase in its population, Kallithea was transformed into an autonomous Municipality (Δήμος Καλλιθέας 2021). Tzitzifies, the area located in the southernmost part of Kallithea, was until 1926 part of the community of Neo Faliro. Since then, Tzitzifies has become part of Kallithea (ΦΕΚ 234Α).

Before the influx of refugees, according to the population census of 1920, Kallithea had 4,185 residents, and Tzitzifies had only 446 residents (Υπουργείον Εθνικής Οικονομίας – Γενική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία της Ελλάδος, 1921: 49). According to the 1923 refugee census, 3,336 refugees settled in Kallithea, while 339 settled in Tzitzifies (Υπουργείον Εθνικής Οικονομίας – Γενική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία της Ελλάδος 1933, 4). In 1928, Kallithea had 29,656 residents. Therefore, within 8 years, the population of Kallithea increased almost seven times. Also, based on the 1928 census, 14,036 refugees settled in the area following the Asia Minor Catastrophe (Υπουργείον Εθνικής Οικονομίας – Γενική Στατιστική Υπηρεσία της Ελλάδος 1933, 34). In the metropolitan area of Athens, the number of refugees who settled in Kallithea was the third largest, after the municipalities of Athens and Piraeus [4] (Μυωφά & Σταυριανάκης 2019, 150).

Photo 4: Photo of the Skopetiriou refugee settlement at the intersection of Platonos and Filaretou streets

Source: Γεωργιτσογιάννη, 2003: 13 (photographic archive of Nikos F. Politis)

The settlement of refugees in Kallithea took place in shacks built by various state agencies [5], in shacks that the refugees built by themselves, or in buildings on Syngrou Avenue near the borders with Nea Smyrni, but also in scattered points within the area (Photo 4). These points were in the southern part of the area, in Tzitzifies, in the northern part in Harokopou district, and also on the banks of Ilisos (Παπαδοπούλου & Σαρηγιάννης 2006, 90). For example, for the housing of refugees, a settlement (with shacks) was created in an area that belonged to the state next to the Harokopio School of Home Economics (Photo 5) (today the Harokopio University of Athens is located there). The refugees self-housed in “12 shacks located there, vertically to the bank. Later on, arbitrary installations were added to that space.” (ibid, 193)

Photo 5: Map of the Greek Statistical Bureau (EΣΥΕ) showing the outposts of Harokopou settlement

Source: Παπαδοπούλου & Σαρηγιάννης, 2006:194

All the shacks in the area were demolished in the post-war period (for more Myofa, 2023). Today, in the place of the shacks, there are mainly apartment buildings that were constructed later (Παπαδοπούλου & Σαρηγιάννης, 2006:90) through the land-for-flat system of antiparochi [6]. On the contrary, the apartment buildings that were constructed by the Ministry of Welfare in the late 1930s remain today (Map 2).

Map 1: Kallithea as depicted on a map in 1908 by the students of the Non-Commissioned Officers School headed by the professor of Topography Infantry Captain An. Katsimidis

Source: Army Geographical Service (ΓΕΣ)