History of Building in Em. Roidou 19 street

The building was built in 1875, in the prosperous local community of Ermoupolis, by the architect Kon. Kokkini, on behalf of the landowner Alexandros Koutsodontonis. He was a prominent merchant of that time, who was already the owner and resident of the adjacent building. The same architect has built excellent neoclassical buildings in the historic center of the city, such as the building of the Lyceum of Greek Women (Petritzi Palace) and the municipal warehouses (former Ladopoulos warehouses) on Georgiou Souri Street.

At that time and later this section of Roidi Street, where the entrance to the building (then Theater Street).There was a significant commercial traffic and its two ground floor shops were always rented to merchants. It is no coincidence that just opposite the building, on the same street, in the now uninhabited building, was housed in the middle of the 19th century the first branch of the National Bank of Greece in Syros. It was the residence priest Filikos and national benefactor Adamantios Maniaris a fighter of the Greek revolution of 1821 , who also served as its director.

Such militant figures, who are heard today as names of demigods, due to the liberation and creation of the new Greek state, such as Maniaris, for the owners of the building and the prominent Hermoupolitans, were then simple neighbors, part of their daily lives.

We have not yet found the names of all the occupants of the house, who were not owners, at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th, because lease contracts are not saved. Other times prominent and other times infamous, the occupants gave life to the building and they all have their own history. However, the older ones bring us images from the evening dances and the glamorous receptions that took place in the house on the first floor, which is in line with the grandeur of the space, the high ceilings and the large double doors.

During mid of the 20th century the French consul Gringund was living in the house of the building and then his widowed wife, until the German occupation in 1941. Decorated with heavy furniture, ornate wooden frames on the windows, exquisite handmade rugs on the floors and an impressive corridor with bronze bars, on the main staircase leading to the floor, while the French flag fluttered on the balcony. During the German occupation, French consul left, the house was ransacked and then all his wealth was plundered.

Since 1963, Angeliki Zisimatou was leaving in building, widow of the industrialist of Ermoupolis Georgios Zisimatos (creator of the Syros “G. Zisimatos and Sons” factory, founded in 1914). The building has been designated as a unique heritage building. Reference is made to the building, as one of the remarkable buildings of Ermoupolis, in the book “Ermoupolis-Syros Historical Journey”, by the historians Agriantonis and Fenerlis, published by Olkos.