Guide of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace

The settlements of Pageo constitute a special architectural area. During the second half of the nineteenth century and until 1920 these architectural settlements were variously influenced in their structure and architectural character because of the specific historical conditions and the alternate conquerors. The settlement of the refugees who came to the Northeastern Pageo after the Asia Minor destruction in 1922, contributed in the differentiation of the traditional rural architectural character of the settlements, because the new habitants had different urban morphological and social models.
The buildings of the settlements are scattered and every house with its pro buildings is surrounded by a tall stone fence which turns the house to a close unit. The form of the stone Macedonian house without daubing and with its winter apartments at the ground floor or at the middle one and the summer apartments at the floor is one of the basic architectural types.
This architecture reminds us of a fortress. There are loggia, sachnisia (roofed level’s extensions) and rectangular or bowed openings at the houses of wealthy habitants along with colored strips of daub at the windows. The daubing is from schistose slate or tiles without a ceiling.

Distinct architectural types:
- The rural house: open or tobacco house with a wide facade, a chagiati (roofed balcony) and two rooms (a winter and a summer one) or more depending on how many families lived there.
The closed or rural house: rectangular, stone one, with outbuildings at the ground floor and the residence at the floor. The projected fireplace is a morphological element that reveals the art of the skills of the craftsman.
- The mansion: a bigger and decorated house of the Greek prosperous class and the Turkish Beides (intendants):
The Greek mansion with external paintings or sculptured decoration (Eleftheroupoli, Paliochori, Mesoropi, Podochori and Moustheni).
The Turkish mansion with many rooms and a kiosk (a special salient reception) with wooden sculptured doors and cabinets.
- The refugee house:
Bi level or semi level, with a big reception in the middle which ends to a balcony, symmetrical rooms with big windows, a stone ground floor and a level made of bricks, with a wooden roof of French type bricks and neoclassical decorative elements. Characteristic examples in Pageo are: the settlements of Domatia, Kipia, Melisokomio, Mesoropi, Moustheni and Podochori

Source: G. Mitsou, “Pageo”, Greek Traditional Architecture 8: 113-114.