The Architectural style of Leros

Leros architecture its a blend of 4 deferent styles, the typical style of Dodecanese, which has a lot of similarities with the architectural style of the Cyclades islands, small white houses with blue painted doors and windows.

The neoclassic style with the dominant colour of okra and finally the remaining Italian buildings from the times of the Italian occupation which most are in Laki and mostly good remain as a living museum of Mussolini’s architecture.

The last decade the modern Lerians build there houses with respect to the traditional local style.

The Italian architecture of Lakki

In the Aegean there is a place the like of which you will hardly find. A small coastal village that looks like a De Chirico painting or a Fellini film set. Unknown and at the same time familiar, old and at the same time modern. Lakki of Leros is unexpected: an entire, almost untouched, Italian town of the 1930s, “planted” on an Aegean island. An architectural treasure that was saved until today probably by luck.

But let’s take things from the beginning. In 1912, the Dodecanese came under the control of the Italians who chose Leros for the creation of their aeronautical base. Lakki Bay, the second largest natural harbor in the Mediterranean after Malta, is ideal.

In 1923, the G. Rossetti base was created in the Lepida area with hangars for seaplanes, military facilities and some residences. “However, the ever-increasing needs for living quarters for the officers and their families led the Italian administration to establish the new city, Porto Lago, on the opposite coast,” says Professor of Architecture Vassilis Kolonas in his book “Italian Architecture in the Dodecanese 1912- 1943”.

In Lakki, therefore, from 1930 to 1936, where there was a small fishing village, a new town, Porto Lago, was built from scratch. A city that had everything: from public buildings to residences for officers and soldiers. The result was a single architectural ensemble built on the principles of rationalism. “The church, the theater, the school, the hospital, the artillery barracks, the hotel and, above all, the circular market with the clock tower constitute a uniquely coherent architectural ensemble, which could deservedly be included in an international exhibition of architecture of the 1930s”.