8, Agios Minas Street (Bon Marché)

The building known as Bon Marché was begun in 1887 and inaugurated in 1893. It belonged to the Muslim Litsardakis family and accommodated wholesale premises for imported textiles. Its architectural composition combines morphological elements derived from both Neoclassical and Balkan building traditions.

The structure is two storeys high, with a basement and a timber roof clad with clay tiles. On the ground floor, the main entrance is articulated by a wide depressed arch. At first-floor level, an enclosed projecting bay (sachnisi) is developed on the principal façade, with a central opening flanked symmetrically by two shallow niches. In the upper zone of the elevation runs an entablature articulated with triglyphs and metopes, surmounted by a pronounced projecting cornice. The elevation is crowned by a parapet with an elliptical termination, bearing a medallion from Mecca decorated with religious emblems and Qur’anic inscriptions. At the base of the projecting bay is an inscription recording the owner’s name, Hussein Moharem Litsardakis, in Greek and Arabic characters, together with the date 1893, as well as two further inscriptions identifying the establishment as “OSMANLI BON MARSE” and “ΟΘΩΜΑΝΙΚΟΝ AU BON MARCHÉ”.