Refugee Houses, Residential Blocks and Communal Spaces in Nikaia

Average house surface area: ~23 m² 

These residential units were the ones built first by the Refugee Relief Fund in the area between Tzavela/Belogianni Street and the south part of the Agios Nikolaos Square. The rectangular building is divided vertically and horizontally creating four dwellings, each about 23 square metres large. The building had no toilets. The initial plan included a communal space and communal lavatories in between the rows of houses, but in the end these were not constructed.

Average house surface area: ~30 m²

Ground floor buildings measuring about 30 square metres erected by the Refugee Settlement Commission in a row of 4 (2^a) or 6-8 units (2^b). The middle units are slightly set back to create a small front yard/entrance. In some cases there is no setback and the units are simply arranged in a row (2^c). Each house is built out of unburnt clay bricks and has a tiled roof. It has a main space, a kitchen and a WC. In some cases, the end units are divided into two dwellings, creating a complex of six or eight houses (without a WC).

Average house surface area: ~30 m²

Housing complex built by the Refugee Settlement Commission made up of five dwellings, four on the ground floor and one on the first floor. Each dwelling has one main space, one auxiliary space and a WC. Essentially, this complex resembles type 2^α but one of the end units has two stories and houses two families. The two-story unit is always situated in the corner of the residential block. The ground floor is made of stone while the story is made of bricks.

Average house surface area: ~35 m²

At the end of the 1920s and the beginning of the 1930s, the Refugee Settlement Commission started building a few apartment blocks in the area. These characteristic, rectangular, two-story buildings were erected in Nikaia, housing multiple residential units arranged in rows opposite each other on each floor. The units on the long sides have their own entrances. Access to the upper stories is possible via criss-crossing exterior staircases on the short sides of the building leading to (originally) wooden corridors. The building’s slabs are made of reinforced concrete, the walls are usually stone and the roof is tiled.

Average house surface area: ~35 m²

A common typology used by the Refugee Settlement Commission were these twin two-story houses, accommodating two families each, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor. These duplexes are similar to the British rowhouses/terraced houses and in Nikaia they usually come in rows of 2 or 4 (namely 4 or 8 residential units in total). They have a tile roof and walls made of stone or large burnt clay bricks. The upstairs and the downstairs units share a common entrance.

Average house surface area: ~38 m²

The Urban Refugee Settlement Management Service was established in 1927 in order to complete the unfinished work of the Refugee Relief Fund. The Service also undertook the development of more refugee housing clusters, including ‘Germanika’ [The German houses] in Kokkinia (Leontidou-Emmanouil 2001). ‘Germanika’ are concentrated within approximately 35 residential blocks between Agios Georgios Square and today’s Dimokratia Square. They are prefabricated wooden dwellings with the floor slightly raised from the ground. In almost all cases, the ground was later dug out to create a basement (Hirschon 1989). They are called ‘Germanika’ because they were funded by Germany as a form of economic reparation for the First World War. Each unit is approximately 8,5 metres by 9 metres, providing two rooms, a kitchen and a WC.

Dimensions: 50m x 15m or 30m x 10m

Long rectangular blocks with type 1 residential units can only be found in the area of Tzavella/Belogianni street and south of the Agios Nikolaos Square. The fourplexes are placed on the plots in a way that usually allows for some kind of private front or side yard, although not all dwellings had yards. Today these blocks are characterised by intense development. Three or four such refugee residential blocks are now recognised as a single block, as most of the streets between them have become pedestrian streets. In some cases, these pedestrian streets function as parking spaces while, in others, they are used as entrances, decorated by the residents with chairs and potted plants and treated as an extension of their house.

Dimensions: 45m x 50-60m

Square or rectangular blocks on the perimeter of which are arranged single story residential units (type 2^a-b-c) in a way that allows for open communal areas in the interior of the block. These communal spaces were accessed through an alley at the centre of the block. In the larger blocks, there were also two narrower passages perpendicular to the alley, most of which have now been closed off. The communal spaces housed shared laundry rooms and lavatories which were later torn down. This typology is most common in the area of Kilikiana. In the mid-1980s, when the area’s central sewage system was completed, the septic tanks that used to be situated in the communal spaces were filled with rubble and used for planting. Apart from the communal spaces, there were also open spaces used as private yards which face the inside of the block, since the placement of the buildings did not entirely cover the land plots. In most cases, the open spaces of these plots have now been covered either by extensions and additions or by new structures which utilise the entirety of the plot.

Type Β2: Residential blocks with communal space and 1 alley

Dimensions: 45×50-60m

Square or rectangular residential blocks similar in arrangement to type B1. They have communal spaces in the interior with an alley down the middle and two narrow entrances (for the larger blocks). Its main difference with type B1 is that this block accommodates type 2 and 3 residential units in an arrangement that places the two-story buildings in the corners. This typology appears mostly between Agios Nikolaos and Agios Georgios and many of the corner, two-story buildings survive to this day, even if transformed through additions or extensions.

Dimensions: 50m x70m

Large blocks with communal spaces for laundry rooms, similar to typology B, but including multiple alleys. In these blocks, we encounter a combination of single-story and two-story residential units, including the typical Nikaia apartment complexes (type 4). These blocks can mainly be found in the area of Agios Georgios, but some are also located in the area south east of Agios Nikolaos. However, none of these blocks appears to consist exclusively of type 4 apartment complexes.

Dimensions: 50m x 35m

The blocks of the ‘Germanika’ settlement (type 6), which were vividly described in the works of Renée Hirschon, are located north of the Agios Georgios area and south of today’s Dimokratia Square. These blocks aresmaller and were divided into 20 land plots on which the prefabricated houses were placed. The division of the land into plots allows for private open spaces/yards facing the middle of the block. However, the corner properties are markedly smaller and do not have a yard, which Hirschon herself recognised as problematic. These blocks do not have communal spaces and nowadays even the open spaces on each property have been almost completely covered. Some of the prefabricated houses still stand.

Various dimensions

Several residential blocks in the historic centre of Nikaia appear to have been divided and granted to refugees for self-housing. In these cases, the blocks were not designed according to a specific plan and have now been intensively developed.