Archive of "Ergoliptiki Α.Ε."
The Archive of «Ergoliptiki», a construction company of the interwar period
The discovery of the Archive of a construction company of the interwar period was the point of departure for the two-year program «Recording, conservation and digitisation of the “Ergoliptiki” Archive», which is implemented in collaboration with the National Library of Greece and through support by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
«Ergoliptiki»
The archive was discovered by collector Giannis Lamprou and consists of thousands of files, architectural plans, photographies and registers which document the significant work οf «Ergoliptiki Α.Ε./S.A.» in the two decades between 1910-1930. The projects, either private or public, comprise of the construction of, inter alia, residences, hotels, educational buildings, hospitals, roads, sewerages etc. In the 1910’s, civil engineer Spilios Agapitos established the «General Company of Technical Enterprises S. Agapitos & Co». Moshos Diamantopoulos, a civil engineer as well, founded «General Company Beton Arme/reinforced concrete Μ. Α. Diamantopoulos» and merged with Agapitos’ Company. In 1925, Diamantopoulos established «Ergoliptiki» whose work decreased drastically during the Second World War and, postwar, turned into a commercial company.
«Ergoliptiki» collaborated with several commonly known architects and civil engineers, who designed and supervised over 250 projects. Indicatively, Miltiadis and Ioannis Axelos, Georgios Diamantopoulos, Andreas Dracopoulos, Panagiotis Zizilas, Ioannis Zolotas, Kostas Kitsikis, Rennos Koutsouris, Andreas and Emmanouil Kriezis, Emannouil Lazaridis, Sotiris Magiasis, Anastasios Metaxas, Nikolaos Mitsakis, Aristeidis Balanos, Alexandros Nikoloudis, Anastasios Orlandos, Georgios Soulis, Ioannis Ydraios etc. The buildings were constructed in several cities, with the majority of them being in Athens, Piraeus and Thessaloniki, such as the Bitzani mansion, the Papaleonardos apartment building, the Georgios Argyriou mansion, the Red Cross hospital, the Cecil hotel, the Ginis building (NTUA), the National Bank of Thessaloniki, the «Evrotas» cylinder mills, the refugee residences in Podarades (Nea Ionia) and many more. The Archive offers a wealth of information about the interwar architecture and the construction technology of the period, the engineers, the craftsmen, the industrial and artisanship sectors supporting the construction activity, as well as labor issues, insurances etc. The latter are a treasure able to enrich our knowledge with unknown, until today, data. The new program comes as the sequence of the two previous MONUMENTA programs concerning the recording and documentation of buildings in Athens and Thessaloniki and offers significant knowledge on both maintained and already demolished buildings. Both programs, «Recording and designation of the Athenian buildings of 19th and 20th century» and «Documentation and designation of the Athenian buildings of 19th and 20th century» came to fruition with an exclusive grant by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF).
Part of the archive is registered on the Monumenta website and the National Library (EBE), freely accessible https://monumenta-website.vercel.app/browse/repository/data:vq8f-dpiriicpz
