Architecture

The 1st city plan

The drafting of the first city plan of Piraeus takes place in parallel with the urban planning of the new capital of the state (Athens) by the architects Stamatis Kleanthis and Eduard Schaubert. The two architects met in Germany during their years of study and were students of perhaps the most important German neoclassical architect, Karl Friedrich Schinkel. They settled in Athens in November 1831, starting its systematic surveying, then drawing up their urban planning proposal. On July 20/August 1, 1833 Kleanthis was instructed by Otto to proceed with the process of selecting a site around the port of Piraeus, suitable for the establishment of a city. The architect made a draft of the area that he considered suitable and sufficient for the development of the new city, while on February 24, 1834 he received the order of the immediate execution of the city plan without delay. The final plan was drawn up after the composition of a detailed topographical map of the wider area, in which the existing remnants of the classical city are also marked and which formed the basis for the composition of the Piraeus layout plan.

The proposed city planning follows neoclassical standards. The boundaries of the first city planning, which is developed in a rectangular grid, are formed by today’s streets Kastoros, Retsina, El. Venizelou, Gr. Lambrakis, Moutsopoulou Coast, 2nd Merarchias, Kountouriotou, Philellinon, Miaouli Coast, Poseidonos Coast, Kallimasioti Coast and Kondyli Coast. Gounari Street (extension of Athens-Piraeus Street) is the boundary of two sections, the right and the left, of Chion and Genikou districts respectively. The building blocks generally measure 70m. – 100m., while the width of the avenues is approximately 30m.

In the south-eastern part, the corners of the parallelograms have been cut off to form small public squares. The small public squares host a variety of functions. Both commercial activities and the rest of the tertiary sector extend to the wider port area where there are three markets. One in today’s Karaiskaki square, one in the location of the later Municipal Market and one on the south side of the Tinaneios garden.

In addition to these, the Slaughterhouses are located in the area of ​​Zea, the Bank in Korai Square and the “Commodity Exchange” in Themistokleous Square, where the Mariners’ Retirement Fund building is located today. Two shipyards and the gunpowder warehouses are planned to the south of the central port.

Educational activities are represented by the School and Library in Korai Square, as well as the Naval School in Terpsithea Square. The religious functions are placed centrally, with the church of Agios Spyridon in the place of the existing ruins of the old monastery and a second church, almost symmetrical with the previous one, in terms of the axis of Vas. Georgiou Avenue. The chapel of Agios Dionysios is preserved in the northwestern part, outside the City Plan, where the cemetery of the classical times is also marked. The new cemetery is planned at the southeast end, at the beginning of I. Chatzikyriakou Avenue, also outside the boundaries of the settlement. The Hospital at the foothills of Kastella, the Orphanage at the western end of the city and the Sanatorium at Ietioneia Coast make up the public welfare buildings.

The Palaces are designed at the entrance to the city from Athens, on the axis of Piraeus Street, in an elevated position, as evidenced by the two symmetrically placed access staircases.

Finally, although the existing antiquities are taken into account by the editors of the plan, the correlation of the new road tracing with that of the classical times is not considered probable, despite the minimal deviation of the axes of the streets and building lines. The discovery of the finds that document the urban fabric of the ancient city is made later, so one can conclude that the geomorphology, the location of the three natural ports and the road to Athens were the main parameters of the specific positioning of the functions of the new city.