Only 1,500 of the city's 6,000 houses survived the Great Fire of 1913. The city's commercial district was completely destroyed. The need to rebuild the shattered city centre and house the thousands of homeless families was imperative. The local authorities assembled a special committee, which drew up a plan of the scorched city, thus producing the first Land Registry in the history of modern Greece.Historians researching the history of Greek town planning now regard the reconstruction of the destroyed part of the city as being particularly significant. Its significance lies, among others, in just how pioneering the project was for 1914. It was our first glimpse of the concept of land re-allocation, a concept later proved to be essential during the redesigning of the city centre of Thessaloniki after the catastrophic fire of 1917.

 

 

 

It also contributed significantly to the shaping up of the appearance of the city of Serres in the period between the wars when the city got onto feet once more after a seemingly endless series of disasters. In a very short time, a number of impressive buildings had sprung up in the fire zone, radically different from what had existed before. Photographs from the inter-war period show a city laid out along lines set down by Nikolaos Tsakiris, and buildings which rely on a vocabulary of simplified eclecticism with a little added Athenian neo-classicism - a choice of style reflecting middle class ideas of good taste at the time.

 

Due to the rapid post-war construction, only a few significant buildings survive, the most important of which are:
The Malliou-Psimopoulou residence, built in 1927 in I. Dragoumi Street.
The Serres Agricultural Bank. Built in 1928 by the Serres Agricultural Association.
The 1st High School of Serres is situated on the lower slopes of Koula Hill.
The Headmaster of the Serres High School laid the foundations of the building on July 18, 1926 after the destruction of the building in Ano Kamenikia that had previously housed the city school. The school was opened by Nikolaos Vasikyrou, the new Headmaster, in 1929. The school's design - with the emphasis on the central axis and the entrance porch within the main body of the building, is similar to that of the Governor's Residence lacking, however, the eclectic style of the latter's decoration.
The National Bank . Built in 1928 along pure neo-classical lines by the Architect Xenophon Aigidis.
The "Majestic" Hotel. Built in 1929 by Stavridis, a building contractor, to a design by Panagiotareas, the civil engineer, for the Chatzinikolaou brothers, wool merchants in the city. The Galva family ran the Hotel Majestic in the building until 1967.

 

 

*The home of Mr. Schoinas, the city's Bursar for Schools which was built in 1927 on the corner of Akropoleos and Nik. Fokas Streets. The neo-Byzantine feel of the building reminds of similar buildings from the same era in Thessaloniki and other towns in Northern Greece.
The central offices of the ΔΕΗ , built in 1918 by " Mediterranean", an American tobacco company, and bought by ΔΕΗ in 1978.
The impressive building in Konsta-ntinopoleos Street was erected in 1928. It housed the head offices of the "Austro-Hellenic" tobacco company during the heyday of the tobacco trade in Serres. The corners of the building display tower-like crenellations.

 

The mansion houses of Serres gave it an "old-time" air until the Fifties. The appearance of the city has, however, radically changed since then. The old city with its mansions has almost disappeared.

These wonderful buildings were demolished one after another and bulky apartment blocks were built in their place. Those streets which were once graced by beautiful houses - each with its own distinct personality, with wrought-iron railings and well-tended lawns - are now a monotonous gray.

The few buildings that have been lucky enough to survive, are by all means too few to portray a convincing picture of the city's appearance in the years gone by. It is perhaps just a matter of time before they, too, are demolished. Yet, until that day, they will continue to magnetize our attention, stimulate our memory, and - shining like drops of morning dew - will refresh and culturally enrich the built environment we live in.

 

Writer:
Lila Theodoridou-Sotiriou