Architecture Wednesday: Teloneio Kardamyli Stone House

The Teloneio is a former Customs House but had long since been abandoned before the new owners decided it would make a perfect vacation home. And that was an arduous process, though through governmental red tape, building codes, and design approval, taking eight years to turn a listed historical building into a modern family home, while simultaneously respecting its place in the local landscape, history, and community. 

The stone building has been sitting in this spot in the port of Kardamyli since the 18^th century, making the Teloneio a focal point for the area. It had been resurrected once, as a motel, in the 1960s, and later partially buried in concrete and fallen into disrepair before the new owners saw something that made them buy it.

As a former fortified customs house, the Teloneio was originally designed for protection, with goods stored on the lower floor and defensive barracks space above. The architects opened up and connected the two floors, and the two separate buildings, adding features like new windows to add light and air flow to make it feel like a home.

All of the original 18th-century stonework was revealed, and once that mass of concrete that had been laid around the building as removed, it turned  the short squat buildings into tall slender ones. The shell of the building was then restored to its original fortified Mani architecture of thick stone walls.

And since the original building had a more utilitarian use, none of the spaces were connected or allowed people to move freely inside, and between, spaces; all the rooms had separate access from the outside. A new stairway was created in the center of the one building to allow access to the main spaces of living, dining and kitchen on the second floor, and access across a second-floor terrace to the primary suite. A new hallway was created on the first floor to connect one bedroom to the other two on the main floor.,

I love the old stone, with the new windows, and industrial kitchen; and the open spaces and sightlines to the port are stunning. It may no longer be a Custom’s House but is the most custom house.

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Arch Daily