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U.S. Embassy, Athens, Greece

Fair
  • Modern Movement
  • Identity of Building/Site
  • History of Building/Site

U.S. Embassy, Athens, Greece

Site overview

The Athens Chancery, by architect Walter Gropius, one of the most celebrated representatives of the famed Bauhaus School, is a modern tribute to ancient Greek architecture. The architect designed the building as a metaphor for democracy in the country to which modern democracy owes so much. Completed on July 4, 1961, the three-story edifice is markedly open. The landscaped courtyard provides a place for discussion and meeting. The white columns and brilliant reflective surfaces of the exterior façade are clad with Pentelic marble, the famous stone used in the Parthenon, other buildings on the Acropolis, and throughout the ancient Mediterranean. Black marble from Saint Peter, Peloponnesus, gray marble from Marathon, and other native Greek marbles are used throughout the building. The beautifully-turned wood stair railing was made with Greek pearwood by Greek artisans. Contemporary architecture magazines described the chancery as “a symbol of democracy at the fountainhead of many old democratic and architectural traditions” by “one of modern architecture’s Olympian figures,” Walter Gropius, and his associates at The Architects Collaborative (TAC). Gropius said that he sought “to find the spirit of [the] Greek approach without imitating any classical means.” The Athens Chancery remains a fresh and optimistic bow to the classical ideal and one of the most prominent Bauhaus buildings in Greece. (Adapted from the Secretary of State's Register of Culturally Significant Property)

Primary classification

Administration (ADM)

Designations

Secretary of State’s Register of Culturally Significant Property, listed in 2006

Author(s)

Chelsea Brandt | | 2/26/2013

How to Visit

Open by appointment for official U.S. citizen services

Location

91 Vasilisis Sofias Avenue
Athens

Country

GR
More visitation information

Case Study House No. 21

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Designer(s)

Walter Gropius

Architect

Nationality

American, German

Other designers

Architect: Walter Gropius. Other architects: The Architects Collaborative; Consulting engineers: Paul Weidlinger and Mario Salvadori ; Building contractors: Pericles Sakellarios
Completion

4 July 1961

Commission / Completion details

Commission: () / Start of site work: 1957 (c) / Completion: July 4, 1961 (e)

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