Maximos Mansion

Maximus Megaron
Μέγαρο Μαξίμου
A view of Maximus Megaron in 2011 (George Papandreou and Lucas Papademos)
General information
Architectural style	Neo-Classical
Location	Athens, Greece
Address	19 Irodou Attikou St., Athens 106-74, Greece
Construction started	1912
Completed	1921
Client	Dimitrios E. Maximos
Design and construction
Architect	Anastasios Helmis Anastasios Metaxas

The Maximus Megaron (Greek: Μέγαρο Μαξίμου, Mégaro Maxímou) has been the official seat of the Prime Minister of Greece since 1982. It is located in downtown Athens, Greece, near Syntagma Square. The building houses the offices of the Head of the Greek Government and is also the official residence of the Prime Minister.

Location

The Maximos Mansion is located at Herodes Atticus Street 19, next to the Presidential Mansion and the National Garden of Athens.

History

The building was originally founded in 1912 by Alexandros Michalinos, a wealthy shipowner from the island of Chios. Before the construction of the Mansion, the site was a garden for the Royal Palace. In 1916, Michalinos' widow, Irene Manoussis, after marrying banker and politician Dimitrios Maximos, sold the incomplete building to shipowner Leonidas Embirikos, only to re-buy it in 1921.

Dimitrios Maximos completed the building and settled there with his family in the early 1920s. Between 1941 and 1944, during the Nazi Occupation of Greece, the Mansion was used as the residence of the German Admiral of the Aegean Sea.

After the war the building was briefly used as the residence of the U.S. Ambassador in Athens. In 1952 Dimitrios Maximos sold the Mansion to the Greek State at a favorable price.

From the mid-1950s until 1982, the Mansion was used as a guesthouse for important foreign dignitaries visiting Greece, including Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia in 1955 and Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom in 1980.

In 1982, Andreas Papandreou decided to move the Prime Minister's office into the Mansion (prior to that, the Prime Minister's office was located inside the Parliament building). Papandreou himself rarely used it however, preferring to conduct his business from his family villa of Kastri (in the affluent northern suburbs of Athens), or from Lagonisi, where he spent the summer months.

References

Coordinates: 37°58′24.37″N 23°44′26.26″E / 37.9734361°N 23.7406278°E