The century-old detached house in Neapolis that remains unchanged over time

KELLY STAVROPOULOU
09.11.2023 • 17:38

I feel at home: Happy and safe.

My favorite spot in the house: Where the staircase meets the handmade ceramic bricks.

It creates an atmosphere in the space: The wooden – excessively – high ceiling combined with the blue kitchen cabinets and large windows.

In the living room of the house the old patina of the wall has been preserved in some places, the wooden furniture is from Habitat, the chair is an heirloom from her great grandfather and the carpet is also old and handmade. Photo ALINA LEFA

My house is different from others: Maybe because it is preserved in the center of Athens, with a small back yard, as if you were in the countryside. The renovation was done by the architect Cornelia Zarkia.

Favorite item: Anything that reminds me of my parents.

Art at home: Ceramics from various parts of Greece and other nearby countries.

Every home should have one: A sense of refuge.

If I didn’t live here: The ideal would be to live here, but to spend time in many other places as well, on a Greek island, in the center of Paris, in Rio de Janeiro, in Sicily, etc.

The century-old detached house in Neapolis that remains unchanged in time-2 — The same in the backyard, where the plants create a cool microclimate in the center of Athens. The collection of horn and ceramics is a bequest from her parents. Photo ALINA LEFA

Neighborhood in Athens: Neapoli-Lykavittos.

Journey: I always miss my trip to Cuba and I always want to go to Brazil.

Return destination: Tinos.

In my free time: The concept of free time is confusing now… But let’s say the walks in Lycabettus.

Taste: Everything that comes out of the sea and stuffed tomatoes.

To relax: I only succeed when I see the sea or green.

Custom: I don’t want to think of any, I wish I didn’t have one.

Movie/series: Many, very many. Drive my car, Toni Erdmann, Mulholland Street, All for my mother, Dogville, No Home for the Dead, Blade Runner, Dolce Vita, most of Antonioni and all of Anies Varda, with Pointe Courte in first place. Oh, and from series Fargo.

The century-old detached house in Neapolis that remains unchanged in time-3 — On the entrance balcony, again plants and ceramics from Sifnos. Photo ALINA LEFA

Hotel: A bed & breakfast in St Ives in Cornwall.

My alter ego: The protagonist of Vagabond by Anies Varda.

I cook: Necessarily almost every day and I rarely like it.

Drink: Gin tonic.

Hobby: To browse houses and places on the internet.

Book: Planets by Olga Torkachuk, with a favorite quote: “Wake up, move, move. That’s the only way you’ll escape him. He who defines the world has no power over movement, he knows that our body in motion is sacred, only then can you escape it, only if you move.”

I’m proud of: Everything I’ve managed to change and everything I’ve accepted I can’t change – especially in the last two years.

The century-old detached house in Neapolis that remains unchanged in time-4 — On the ground floor, where the two offices of the house are located, the old mosaic on the floor stands out. One desk houses the library with her husband’s collection of old magazines, an old B&O TV and above it an exhibition poster depicting the same TV. The chair is a family heirloom. Photo ALINA LEFA

The century-old detached house in Neapolis that remains unchanged in time-5 — In the other office, the work under the window is a photo of herself mounted
in a light box. Photo ALINA LEFA

Favorite project: A Time of her Own, a soon-to-be-launched visual online platform that incorporates archival material with feminist reports from the Greek press in the 1970s and 1980s, as well as photographs of women from personal collections from the same decades.

I never forget to: I get anxious.

Next project: In the spring I will participate in the international Onassis AiR artistic research program of Stegi.