Villa Iolas
38°1′2.7″N 23°50′8.7″E / 38.017417°N 23.835750°E / 38.017417; 23.835750
Alexander Iolas built between 1951-1972 a 1300 square meter villa on a 7000 square meter lot in Agia Paraskevi, a suburb of Athens There he stored and exhibited his art collection with the prospect that one day it would become the "Alexander Iolas Museum".
When he died in 1987 the heirs to his property became his sister, Niki Stifel, and his previously deceased brother's daughter, Eleni Koutsoudi-Iola. His villa was sold to a real estate developer, but construction plans were held up by the Ministry of Culture that marked it as a site of Greek cultural heritage. The villa nowadays has been vandalized and most of his collection of art works has been stolen or dispersed.
The present condition of the Villa Iolas has been a recurring issue in the Greek Parliament, the local Municipality and the Greek newspapers, but also a subject and study-case for artistic and architectural projects.
Villa Iolas was listed in 1998 as a historic monument by the Greek Ministry of Culture, two years later was designated the site for exclusively public cultural activities and recently the re-selling of the estate has been blocked. The Greek State has not expropriated the Villa. Regarding the derelict state of the Villa Iolas, questions have been raised by members of the Greek Parliament: Maria Damanaki, Stavros Benos, Fotis Kouvelis and Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Although the Greek State has agreed on the acquisition of the Villa Iolas from its current owner, this has not happened to this day.
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