Presidential Mansion: The Official Residence of Greece’s President
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.6
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Greece
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Greek
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page10 sections
History
Presidential Mansion is a three-storey Neoclassical residence in Athens, Greece, built by the Greek state for Crown Prince Constantine between 1891 and 1897. Designed by Ernst Ziller, the court architect of King George I, it was created as a private home for Constantine and Princess Sophia of Prussia rather than as the main setting for large royal entertainments.
Creation of the Crown Prince’s Palace
The decision to provide Constantine with a separate residence was made in 1868, the year of his birth. After his marriage to Princess Sophia, the commission for the palace was assigned to Ziller in 1889. The resulting building was originally called the Crown Prince’s Palace and was also known as the New Royal Palace. Its restrained design reflected King George I’s instruction that it should not be overly pretentious, should harmonize with the other mansions on Herodou Attikou Street, and should not imitate the palaces of other European monarchies.
The palace was intended to complement the Old Royal Palace, which was expected to host major official entertainments. This arrangement changed after a fire on Christmas Eve in 1909 destroyed much of the Old Royal Palace, now the building of the Greek Parliament. The Crown Prince’s Palace then became the temporary residence of the royal family. In 1913, after the assassination of George I and Constantine’s accession to the throne, it became the principal royal residence.
Royal residence and republic
The building’s royal use was interrupted in 1924, when the monarchy was abolished and Greece became a republic. During this period it served as the Presidential Mansion. The monarchy was restored in 1935, and the building returned to royal use under the official name New Royal Palace.
After 1935, its role as a city palace was limited because many members of the royal family preferred Tatoi, the rural palace, as their permanent residence. Princess Sophia, who later became queen of Spain, occupied an apartment on the first floor. The palace also acquired new spaces as royal and state requirements changed, including a ballroom added in 1909 and a larger extension constructed in 1962 for Princess Sophia’s marriage to Juan Carlos I of Spain.
Presidency of the Hellenic Republic
The monarchy was abolished again in 1974, after the end of the seven-year military dictatorship and the restoration of democracy. Since then, the building has housed the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, the institution serving Greece’s head of state. It is the official residence of the President, contains presidential offices, and serves as the principal venue for official state functions in Athens. Successive presidents have generally continued to live in their private residences rather than use the building as their home.
Since the mid-1970s, the President has held a reception at the mansion on 24 July to commemorate the restoration of democracy in 1974. The gathering includes political, military, and academic leaders, representatives of economic sectors and organizations, and news reporters. The building is protected as a preserved monument, remains in operational use, and is owned by the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic.
Setting within central Athens
The site lay outside Athens’s city limits until the final decades of the nineteenth century and later marked the city’s eastern limit. In the mid-nineteenth century, the land formed part of the Royal Palace’s vegetable garden because of its fertile soil. A girls’ orphanage was built nearby in 1854, and private land sales permitted by the state in the 1870s led to the construction of mansions for wealthy Athenian families.
The construction of the palace and Herodou Attikou Street transformed the area into a large ornamental garden. The mansion and garden together occupy approximately 27,000 square metres, while the garden itself covers about 25,000 square metres. The site stands near the National Garden and the Greek Parliament, and Herodou Attikou Street connects it with Athens’s political and social life. The Maximos Mansion, the official office of the Greek prime minister, is on the same street.
Remains
Neoclassical exterior
The mansion is a symmetrical Neoclassical building with a deliberately austere facade. Neoclassicism draws on the forms and decoration of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. Ziller developed the design partly from an unbuilt summer-palace project by Theophil Hansen, while also incorporating Princess Sophia’s wish for a luxurious mansion rather than a conventional royal palace.
A short flight of steps leads to the main entrance and its prostyle portico, a porch with columns standing in front of the entrance. The columns are Ionic, with the scroll-shaped capitals associated with that order. Two rows of nine windows organize the facade, and each window has a small pediment above it.
Decorative details and interior additions
The frieze, a horizontal decorative band, is wider than usual. Its plaster metopes, or panel-like decorative sections, alternate with paired openings that provide additional natural light for the third floor. The same area contained the monograms of the crown-princely couple, with “K” representing Constantine and “S” representing Sophia. Statues once stood on the corner piers of the balustrade, although their fate is unknown and they are said to have been removed during the 1940s or 1950s.
Reception spaces
Because the original building was designed as a private royal residence, its largest reception space was initially the second-floor salon. The ballroom added in 1909 is now called the Credentials Lounge. It is used for the formal presentation of an ambassador’s accrediting document to the head of state and for state receptions.
The 1962 extension created the larger Reception Hall, which is now the mansion’s biggest room. The addition was associated with civil engineer Alexander Baltatzis, architect Maria Dimitriadou-Loukakou, and set designer Kleovoulos Klonis. Its construction was connected with the marriage of Princess Sophia, daughter of King Paul and Queen Frederica, to Juan Carlos I of Spain.
Ornamental garden
The official entrance is on Herodou Attikou Street, while the building occupies the upper of two principal garden sections divided by the slope of the land. The garden was laid out as an ornamental garden in 1897, after the mansion and the street had been completed. Its overall plan appears to have been produced by Ziller’s technical office.
The front section follows a relatively formal French-style geometric plan, with symmetrical lawn plots and seasonal flowering plants. Its conception can be compared with the grounds of other Athenian Neoclassical buildings, including the Academy, the University, and the National Library. Toward Herodou Attikou Street, the strict geometry is softened by plane trees, lindens, palms, and cypress trees. Most of the trees are native to Greece, and the plant selection was probably made by a Greek specialist.
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