The manors of Kastoria are very remarkable, with special architectural features. Either two-storey or three-storey, they decorate the neighborhoods of the city creating a climate of total nobleness that bespeaks of the past.
The manors of Kastoria belong to three different architectural types. The most ancient presents a rectangular plan with a single axis. According to the architecture of the eldest surviving manors that were built from 1750 and on, it is concluded that the building is erected in the form of a tower, with stone built ground floor without any windows, while the rooms are in a row on the second and the third floors.
The interior yard is surrounded by tall, compact walls that isolate it from the street. The yard gate used to be constructed by two resistant door panels that would lock with the “perati” and the bolts (sirtis). Sometimes, the neighboring houses were protected by a common wall, while the party walls were lower so as to allow the joint defense. On the front wall, in front of the large “doxato” on the second floor, there usually was a wide and long veranda, the “solar”, from where light and heat were ensured during winter. The “solar” is one of the main features of Kastoria’s architecture. The most representative samples are the manor houses Tsiatsiapa, Sapountzi, Basara and that of Emmanouel brothers.
The second type is square shaped and has a niche shaped like a Π on the one side. The most representative samples are the Manors Skoutari and Neratzi-Aivatzi.
The third and most recent type has a symmetrical, cross-shaped plan. The most representative samples are the Manors Papaterpou, Tzotza and Vernou.
Most manors in Kastoria have two floors, though there are also some examples of three-floored manors. The ground and the first floor are stone built with very few air ducts on the ground floor and a few small windows on the mezzanine and the first floor. The families used to live on the first floor during winter and therefore these rooms were called winter rooms. The second floor was built using lighter materials and especially the part that oversees the interior yard or the lake, as well as all the “sachnisia” (outer parts) that allow the light to enter through a double row of windows. Families were spending the summer months there, therefore these rooms are called summer rooms.
Usually there is a differentiation between the ground and the first floor, that were built on brickwork, and the last floor that was build on lime-covered timber with many and large openings and the sharp roof shelf. The arrangement based on the floors is not related to the height of the houses, which depends on the formation of the ground. Some manors built later, like the Vergou or Papaterpou Manor Houses (second half of the 19th century) are higher and look more like fortresses, just because they were built on a inclined ground.
The interior of most manors is divided in the following areas: the interior yard on the ground floor with a staircase around it that leads to the above floors and the stairs that lead to the basement with the cellars, where they used to place food and wines. Usually at the ground floor lies also the “zimotari”, a closed space where they used to knead the bread and other materials, like pasta and pies. Finally, the stable was located at the basement of the houses, where the animals were kept.
Then, there was the mezzanine, a space between the yard on the ground floor and the first floor. The rooms were built all around, leaving a square or rectangular space in the center to allow adequate light and air to enter the yard. The mezzanine [metzopatoma], from the roman word “mezzo”, meaning ‘half’, accommodated the winter rooms.
All winter rooms have a fireplace, while the room that all the family members were using in their everyday life is the ‘day room’. This too has a fireplace, as well as a compartment, where they used to place products and objects, commonly known as cabinet. Usually the fur workshop is found on this floor. The mezzanine windows, for safety reasons, had crossing, iron bars (aggela), that used to protrude in some windows so as to allow the residents to point out their head and see who passes by or knocks on the door.
On the top floor dominates the “doxatos”, a spacious room where the celebrations of the house took place and which was also used to lay down the furs. Also, the “krevata” is kept here, meaning large divans set with webs and druggets, where the invitees would seat at the celebrations of the house. The reception areas are the “good winter room” that was used during winter and the “good bedroom”.
A very distinctive feature of the Kastorian manors is “aliakos”, a space that changed in style as time went by. Usually this part of the house oversees the yard, so as not to be visible to the passers by. It is used by the family for entertainment purposes as well as daily domestic labor, as cloth or fruit drying.
Finally, there is the “avgati”, which is the manors’ yard that in the past bordered with the lake. There was a small channel from the “avgati” to the lake the lake and was used by the famous Kastorian ships and their small boats so as to carry people and products from and to the manor. There was also a special, roofed place for the boat for its protection against weather conditions.
Kastoria’s manors are full of the decorating popular traditional art of the craftsmen and artists (painters, icon painters, wood smiths, wood sculptors) from Epirus and Western Macedonia. The same art is also used in the churches and the Manors of the 17th and 18th century, something that shows that the same craftsmen worked in the decoration of the churches and then transferred and adopted it in the manors as well.
Along the stone alley of Byzantiou Street, at Doltso, survive three of the most important manors of Kastoria. One of them is Basara Manor. This building is one of the eldest manors. It was built in 1750 and had three floors. The third floor collapsed in 1888. Its plan is rectangular and there is only one axis with internal division that follows the lead axis, creating a single space area that occupies the entire front of the house. It was built by a merchant from Constantinople.
EMMANUEL MANOR
One of the prettiest manors of Kastoria belongs to the first type of manors, whose yard was hiding behind huge stone fences. It was built in 1750 and has triangular sachnisia (outer parts) at both ends that reveal the expertise of the builders, not only in the drawing but in the building as well. It is located at Byzantiou Street. The Emmanuel family was a well known family in the Hellenic Society of Vienna, with intense patriotic action.
NANTZI MANOR
At the stone alley of Byzantiou Street lies also the Nantzi Manor. This building, erected in 1753, belongs to the first architectural type of Kastoria’s manors. Its representative front faces the interior yard while the sachnisi of the “good room” lies at the southwestern corner. The House of Nantzi family had one of the most beautiful “avgates” (exit of the lake manors to the sea, small port for the house boat). There are amazing wall paintings still surviving in this house, like the one that depicts Constantinople, in the “good room” of the second floor. Also the building has skylights with multi colored stained glasses.
NERATZI – AIVAZI MANOR
The Neratzi – Aivazi Manor, which accomodates the Folklore Museum of Kastoria, belongs to the second architectural type of traditional buildings of Kastoria. It is Π shaped, there was a ground yard, a basement, a mezzanine with only two rooms and another floor. The building oversees the lake and its main entrance was at the north side of the house. The house had numerous decorations. Unfortunately, when the owners of the house were advised to whitewash the walls due to tuberculosis risk, most of these paintings were gone. One of the surviving wall paintings shows the favorite subject of all people of Kastoria, Constantinople. Only the main building still survives today. All auxiliary buildings have collapsed. Many details of the house have been replaced with newer ones, meaning the balconies, the skylights, the fireplaces and also “doxato” and “krevata” have been overlaid with wooden floor.
SKOUTARI MANOR
It was built in 1770 and is located at the southern part of the town, in Orestiados street. The space is Π shaped and it is a representative sample of the second architectural type of the town’s traditional buildings. The window openings differ from one floor to the other. The ground floor’s windows are narrow; the first floor’s windows are arched and relatively small, covered by iron “aggela”. Finally, the second floor’s windows are large and allow the light to enter the mansion generously. The entrance is at the south side of the building, and at both sides thereof lie two product storage rooms and ends up to a wooden staircase that leads to an inside arcade that is supported on timber pillars. Access to all winder rooms is possible through the arcade. At the end of the arcade lies an elevated kiosk, where women used to work in winter. The reception and entertainment areas are on the second floor, where “doxatos” is found, with a unique view to Kastoria’s Lake.
TZOTZA MANOR
Another manor is located at Apozari neighborhood and actually is the first building of a series of manors that followed (Papaterpou, Vergoula, Delidona, Mitousi). The building is in harmony with the adjacent buildings, due to its position in the plot. It belongs to the third architectural style of manors of Kastoria, meaning it is shaped as a cross-in-square. A distinct feature of this construction is the number of openings. Only the north side has twenty-two iron-barred windows that open vertically. The first floor fences stand out so as to allow visual contact to those that get close to the door. There are no sachnisia in the manor (outer parts), like in the antecedent buildings and the timber of the windows, floors and balconies is from pines and chestnut trees.
PAPATERPOU MANOR
A large, traditional manor of the late19th century, with visible masonry at the base and coat on the floors. It was built in 1880 and has symmetric sachnisia. It is built on a rock with extended inclination. It has no foundations and for this reason the ground floor and all other three floors formation is not ordinary. The façade and the arrangement remind of a fortress. There used to be decoration, mainly on the third floor. This manor lies on Megalou Alexandrou Street
TZATA MANOR
According to the founding inscription of the manor, it was built in 1882 and its symmetrical plan is a cross-in-square. Today the building has undergone many interventions and its initial form has altered. One of the spots left untouched is the southern side of the main entrance, save for the metallic veranda that has been added to the second floor. The manor has all the main characteristics of the period it was built, such as a fine sachnisi with fourousia (arched copestone and openings with a semicircular ending). Later on the plan changed and the building was divided into two independent parts. Verandas, staircases and storage rooms have been added to the eastern, northern and western parts.
VERGOU MANORS
They too belong to the third architectural type of traditional buildings of Kastoria. There are three nearly identical manors, the so-called Vergouleika. The entrance of the first is on the north side whereas the entrances of the other two are on the west side. Their exterior is simple, without many sichasia, built on rocks. The facades of the three manors are vertical to each other, as also are the eastern ones, forming a cross. This pattern helped to conceal the altitude difference of the ground and gave them a fortress look. The second floor of the manors was used by the families during the summer months, therefore the masonry is thin and there are more openings. The timber carved ceilings are heavily decorated. The first floor of the manors is built with brick, thick walls because it was used as a winter residence. This floor has four large rooms at the ends of the cross and another room at the center.
TSIATSIAPA MANOR
It was built by the Moralis family in early 18th century and this too lies in the famous neighborhood Apozari, at the northern side of the lake. The family erected this building in 1754, according to an inscription on the southern side wall, as well as a date on the wall painting in one of the rooms. The plan view of the three-storey building is rectangular and the upper floor is richly decorated with wall paintings and wooden sculptures. The wall painting of an imaginary town on the wall of “doxato” is a fine piece of popular art and the depiction of Constantinople dated to 1798 can be found at the southeastern room.
