The General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage and the General Directorate of Restoration, Museums and Technical Works of the Ministry of Culture decided not to approve a preliminary study for the restoration of the ESTIA newspaper building, classified as a monument, on 7 Anthimou Gazi Street, in Athens, the addition of a six-story building with a basement and a rooftop with a swimming pool, and a change of use from office use to a 4-star hotel on a property owned by the company ESTIA JJC REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT S.A.
With the same decision, the study for the conservation of painted decoration and preserved morphological elements of the ESTIA newspaper building was also not approved. According to the relevant decision, it was deemed that the proposed interventions cause damage to the monument.
As mentioned in this regard, all studies must be rewritten in order to be compatible with each other and to be complete, taking into account the scope and type of interventions on the monument and the development of the new section on Karytsi Street, in order not to contradict building regulations.
Moreover, by another decision of the General Directorate of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage, a request by the company “Villas Aeolos S.A.” for the granting of a permit for excavation works with the aim of constructing four ground-floor residences with planted roofs and swimming pools on an area owned by it in the Municipality of Sami was not approved.
The decision, as noted, was taken for reasons of protection of the Melissani Lake Cave and the archaeological site, as the area is located in the immediate vicinity of the cave and in addition, the excavation works pose serious risks of causing damage (detachments and landslides) to the monument. It was also taken, among other things, for reasons of building safety, as part of the underground cave extends under the plot of land of a proposed residence while all 4 plots of land in the area are located on the strongly sloping surface of the lake’s drainage.
