Mansions of Old Xanthi through the history of their owners
This route is about 1.7 km, about 60 minutes and of moderate difficulty. The visitor will stroll through the rich mansions of old Xanthi, built mostly according to the rules of neoclassicism and eclecticism and less according to traditional architecture. These mansions stand out for their architectural style, their intense decorative mood, their inspiration and their majesty in the urban landscape.

The visitor with this route will have the opportunity to learn, through the buildings, the history of their owners and the role they had in the economic, social and political life of the city. The wealthy families of tobacco merchants (e.g. Kougioumtzoglou, Stalios, Ladas, Sigalas, Karadimoglou, Daniel, Christidis, Moses, Valixoglou), other wealthy families who were commercially active in ironmongery (small metal objects) and glassware (e.g. Metaxas), or in textiles (e.g. Chasirtzoglou), or practiced the professions of notary-insurer (e.g. Blatsios) and doctor (e.g. Karabetsis).

99. Mehmet Soukri Pasha - Domtzidis Building

Brief documentation:

The building is built very close to Antikas Square, at the beginning of Pygmalionos Christidis Street. It originally belonged to Mehmet Soukri Pasha, while it was bought in 1925 by pharmacist Sotiris Kokmadis and in 1972 by Athanasios Domtzidis.
The building was built during the late Ottoman period, when this street was known as Uzun Sokak (meaning long street). According to scholars, it is even identified with the Byzantine "middle or royal road".
It is a three-storey building built in neoclassical style. It is distinguished for the symmetry in its façade, for the central door with the skylight above it and the protrusion of the floors, supported by iron corbels.
The floors are separated by stepped cornices and have five windows each with simple frames that have a stepped cornice. On the second floor there is in the center an iron balcony supported by iron curved corbels. At the corners of the building, false pilasters with false capitals are formed.
The ground floor of the building is used as a shop.


Category of thematic interest:  ARCHITECTURAL / HISTORICAL INTEREST


History:

The building is built very close to Antikas Square, at the beginning of Pygmalionos Christidis Street. It originally belonged to Mehmet Soukri Pasha, while it was bought in 1925 by pharmacist Sotiris Kokmadis and in 1972 by Athanasios Domtzidis.
The building was built during the late Ottoman period, when this street was known as Uzun Sokak (meaning long street). According to scholars, it is identified with the Byzantine "middle or royal road", a main road that may have existed before and led through the settlement to the interior of the fortress facilities, located on the acropolis north of the old city.
The road crosses the city from Antikas Square, where it has been assumed that the area of the main gate of the walls of Byzantine Xanthia was located, to the fortifications of the Acropolis, where the center of power would be located, serving defensive functions.
During the Ottoman period the road was used for commercial transport from the region of Xanthi to the mainland to its north.


Elements of architecture:

The building is a three-storey building built in neoclassical style. It is distinguished for the symmetry in its façade, for the central door with the skylight above it and the protrusion of the floors, supported by iron corbels.
The floors are separated by stepped cornices and have five windows each with simple frames that have a stepped cornice. On the second floor there is in the center an iron balcony supported by iron curved corbels. At the corners of the building, false pilasters with false capitals are formed.


Description of other elements:

The ground floor of the building is used as a shop.


Purpose - Use: Residence, Commercial space


Characterization: ΥMATH/5385/24-11-1995, ΦΕΚ 1097/Δ/1995


Dating (period): Late Ottoman period


Year of construction: Late Ottoman period


Location of the monument: 41.14256, 24.88692


Bibliographic references:

•    Katsari-Vafiadis, J. Ed. 2023. "History and recording of the neoclassical buildings of the traditional settlement". Xanthi: Municipality of Xanthi, p. 119


 Address: Pygmalionos Christidi 1


Visitable: No

 

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