91. Fysekidis House – Ottoman hammam
Brief documentation:
The building was built in the second half of the 19th century. In 1882 it was bought by the distiller Kyriakos Kouemtzoglou and was used as the family's residence. In 1958 the house was sold to Pericles Fysekidis.
At a later stage, probably in the late 1990s, the original building was divided and two residences were created. The first residence retained the entrance on the side of Aristeidou Street, while for the needs of the second a new entrance was formed on the side of Aeschylus Street.
It is a two-storey L-shaped tiled house, which is built according to the standards of popular Balkan architecture of the 19th century. It consists of stone masonry on the foundation and the ground floor, which is reinforced with horizontal wooden binding. On the first floor of the building there is the characteristic protrusion of part of the floor (sachnisi), as well as two fireplaces with curved protrusion, one of which is supported by a wooden buttress.
Inside the house, in the semi-basement, there is a part of a bath complex (hammam) of the Ottoman era, which consists of two vaulted spaces (the so-called thermoi) of square plan with a common wall. The construction of this hammam dates back to the period of the 16th – first half of the 17th century.
Category of thematic interest: ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST
History:
thematic interest ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST
5. History The building was erected in the second half of the 19th century to serve as a residence. It does not seem to have changed its use since its inception. In 1882 it was bought by the distiller Kyriakos Kouemtzoglou and was used as the family's residence. In 1958 his granddaughter and sole heiress of the house Evangelini Bitsikanou-Margariti sold the house to Pericles Fysekidis. At a later stage, probably in the late 1990s, the original building was separated and two residences were created. The first residence retained the entrance on the side of Aristeidou, while for the needs of the second a new entrance was formed on the side of Aeschylou Street.
Elements of architecture:
It is a two-storey l-shaped tiled house, which is built according to the standards of popular Balkan architecture of the 19th century. The basic building materials of the building are wood and stone. It includes stone masonry on the foundation and the ground floor, which is reinforced with horizontal wooden binding.
On the first floor of the building there is a characteristic sachnisi, which apart from the decorative role it fulfills, also satisfies basic functional needs of the building, as it adds additional space on the first floor. In the building there are two fireplaces with curved protrusion, one of which is supported by a wooden buttress.
Description of other elements:
In the semi-basement of the house there is an encased part of a bath complex (hammam) of the Ottoman era, which consists of two vaulted spaces (the so-called thermoi) square plan with a common wall and shallow pointed arches, which communicate with each other through a later opening. The bath, in the form it is preserved until today, is an almost typical example of a relatively simple provincial hammam Ottoman era, the construction of which dates back to the period of the 16th – first half of the 17th century.
Purpose - Use: Residence
Characterization: Ministry of Culture / Ministry of Culture / Arch / Β1 / Φ37 / ΚΗΡ / 41654 / 1683 / 21-09-1998, Government Gazette 1088 / Β / 20-10-1998
Dating (period): Second half of the 19th century
Year of construction: Second half of the 19th century
Location of the monument: 41.144847366873364, 24.887841592299207
Bibliographic references:
• Evangelos Papathanasiou, «Ottoman baths in the old town of Xanthi», Peri Thrace 3 (2003), pp. 285 – 295
• "The Apollo Theater and Queen Xanthippe of Xanthi", Thracian Chronicles 38 (1983), pp. 238 – 239
Address: Aristeidou 2A&4
Visitable: No