The shops of Ano Poli

Throughout its history, Ano Poli was mainly a residential area. Its morphology, characterised by a rocky terrain and steep slopes, its urban design, which lacks wide and straight roads, and its distance from the port precluded extensive commercial development. After 1922, refugee settlement in the area increased the density of Ano Poli’s urban fabric, as most uncultivated land was covered with small houses crowding against each other and made of humble materials. Simultaneously, the population of Ano Poli grew dramatically, with the area becoming a refugee neighbourhood.

After the war, Ano Poli maintained its unique character due to its proximity to the city centre, the preservation of the Ottoman urban design and the lack of interest in the area on behalf of developers. In the 1960s, however, several apartment blocks were erected, changing the morphology of the area. With a decree published in 1979, Ano Poli was designated a traditional settlement, while a second decree later in the year detailed the regulations that would govern all construction in the area as well as the permitted land uses.

For years, the residents’ basic needs were covered either by small shops at certain commercial spots (usually clustered near main streets and squares, like the Kule Kafe Square, and scattered in the area’s southern part) or by wandering salespeople who walked, rode animals, or drove carriages up the slopes of Ano Poli to serve their customers.

The photographs presented here date from 1980. They depict several small shops and a wandering salesman from different spots in Ano Poli: a well-known and much photographed grocery store, which does not exist anymore; a wandering milk salesman on Elefsinos Street; a corner shop with a telephone on an unknown street; a convenience shop on Kallithea Square; a bakery and grocery store on Alexandras Papadopoulou Street; the Meimaroglou bakery on the corner of Ektoros Street and Periandrou Street, close to the Acropolis; Michail Mitsa’s tailor shop on Theofilou Street; a shop selling firewood on the corner of Epimenidou Street and Theofilou Street.