Athanasios Kougioumtzoglou - Melpo Merlie’s residence

The building was built during the decade of 1890-1900, by the tobacco trader, prominent village elder and benefactor of the city, Athanasios Kougioumtzoglou. His great-grand daughter is Melpo Logothetis- Merlie, who was born in Xanthi in 1895. The famous musicologist and folklorist along with her husband Octavio Merlie, founded the Musical Archives of Tradition. After the war this club is called “Centre of Asia Minor Studies-Melpo and Octave Merlie Foundation” and it operates to this day in Athens as a scientific center. Architectural description: Neoclassical, symmetric, corner building with its entrance being on Orpheus Street. The acute angle of the ground floor which is on the corner of Antika and Orpheus Street, becomes a right angle on the first floor, therefore the space becomes more functional due to the construction of the triangular enclosed balconies on the first floor on the Antika street. The building has also iron bars placed at its openings of the ground floor and it also has a balcony (exostis). Moreover, the miter angle in the corner of Antika and Orpheus Street contributes to the better use of public space. How it operates today: The building serves as a residence. Most of the houses in the Old City have many large windows to let the light fill the interior space. Here you can see, the corner room on the ground floor.