The Dalliance House | Kifisia (GR)
May 5, 2014 
In the affluent northern suburb of Kifisia (Greece) you'll find The Dalliance House, an all day restaurant, cafe and bar. Proudly sat in a neoclassical building dating back to the 1890s, the site was originally constructed to house one of Kifisia's bourgeois family. The beauty of the building attracted three architects to the project, who joined forces to transform the space back to a meeting place. Panagiotis Fountas, Konstantina Panagiotou and Marilena Spanoudaki wished to uncover the building's original roots underneath the multitude of major changes that the building had endured over time. Instead of erasing the remnants of change, the trio's approach was to preserve them in an attempt to not only revive, but also to remember, everything that has that happened within the walls.
The exterior has been restored to its original neoclassical form through the use of a considered colour palette and strategic lighting and inside, original features such as ceiling roses and elaborate late 19th century decoration sit alongside contemporary materials. The house's walls and murals were restored using several aging techniques to give a worn, age-old aesthetic and old school geisha tattoos and a comic-covered wall and ceiling provide a distinctively contemporary edge. The vibrant and elegant furnishings include Ingo Maurer lighting, a Baxter sofa and a monastery style dining table. With one foot in the present and the other firmly in the past, The Dalliance House has achieved a successful blend of neoclassical and contemporary design that sensitively considers the building's rich history.