6074

The Aristocles Pilavakis Residence and radio culture in Limassol

15/04/2019
* NOTE: All the tributes of All About Limassol (as the Official Guide of Limassol) aim to ONLY highlight the special advantages of this wonderful city, so that everyone can be aware of the unique Experiences it offers. Under no circumstances do they have any promotional or nominal value, nor do they serve the interests of Companies, Municipalities, Organizations or Individuals.

Social Life
Architecture

The 2-story mansion with the fenced courtyard, which continues to stand out among the buildings of the historical Agiou Andreou Street, is one of the first neoclassical buildings of Limassol declared preserved and restored to its original form. And so, though its construction dates to approximately 1885, it still stands with its image unaltered to this day. 

Aristocles Pilavakis, the prominent industrial merchant to whom the city owes the founding of the Coastal Shipping Company of Limassol (AEL), the first Eastern Mediterranean Steam Shipping Company, built this mansion with the aim of providing his daughters, Euniki and Ianthi, with a dowry. This is why the building comprises two residences, 1 on the ground floor, and 1 on the first floor. 

The history of the building is also linked to Limassol's radio culture, at a time when this technology was still unknown to a large majority of Limassolians. Antonis Pilavakis, who resided on the first floor of the mansion before building his own grand manor (today's Library), was the owner of the first radio device in the city. As he played it, the sounds of the melodies led local residents to gather beneath the windows of the mansion, to experience something completely unprecedented for the first time. 

The listed building has been used as a dining and entertainment venue after its renovation.

Source: Limassol: A memory flashback, by Tasos Andreou

* NOTE: The tributes of the Project "History of Limassol" present information that has emerged from historical research thus far. Any new data is embedded into the tributes, once it has been confirmed.