LIM_1074

Address: Agiou Andreou 251 & Zinonos & Othonos kai Amalias The building is one of the first modernist buildings in Cyprus. Its architect, Polyvios Michaelides, is considered a pioneer in the modernist architecture of the island and his work is influenced by Le Corbusier, in the office of whom in Paris he has worked. The plot in which the building is positioned, on Agiou Andreou street, used to be the location of an open-air cinema. In 1947 the plot was purchased by the family of the doctor Panos Afstriakos and in the same year the cinema was demolished and the still-standing building was erected. Originally the ground floor and the mezzanine accommodated ten independent shops while the first floor was used as the doctor’s clinic; hence the building was known as Afstriakos’ clinic among the people of Limassol. The ten shops had separate entrances while the access to the first floor was possible only via the two staircases at the rear façade of the building. The floorplan of the first floor was originally composed of five patients’ rooms, the doctor’s office, an examination and a surgery room, four sanitary spaces, an auxiliary space and a long connecting corridor. The main façade of the building is dominated by three horizontal zones: the ground and the first floor which are both on recess and the mezzanine between them. A series of circular external columns creates a narrow portico on the ground floor and a balcony on the first floor due to the recess. A series of skylights completes the mezzanine zone. On both edges of the main façade, where the two perpendicular streets intersect, the building has no corners but is instead curved. This was done for aesthetic reasons but also because of the shape of the plot. The materials used are the common of the era with a significant difference being the introduction of reinforced concrete. This is the material used for the columns and beams. The first floor slab is made of a mixture of reinforced concrete and adobe. The external walls of the two floors on the main façade are made of stone and are load bearing while the external wall of the mezzanine and all interior floors are made of bricks. The central part of the roof is inclined and made of timber and tiles while the roof close to the edges is flat and made of reinforced concrete. This part, as well as the small canopy, can be accessed through the smaller of the two staircases. All floors are covered with tiles. In 1949 a number of alterations took place that included mainly the demolition and erection of some walls on the first floor so that the individual spaces are rearranged and the functionality of the clinic improves. In addition, there was a plan for adding additional floors to the building which was never implemented. In 1960 the first floor stopped operating as a clinic and was transformed into two residential apartments. To do so, a number of additional walls were erected. At the same time, some walls on the ground floor were demolished so that number of shops is reduced and their size is increased. The ground floor was then occupied by three shops, a mini market and a coffee shop. During the years both floors of the building have been gradually abandoned. A request for demolishing the building was rejected in 1996, and in 1998 it was purchased by a private company. In 2000 it was declared listed due to its significance as a building influenced by the European pre-war movements. Works for renovating the building started in 2016 but were shortly discontinued. During this brief period, a number of walls on the ground floor and mezzanine were demolished and all the door and window frames on the first floor were removed.