Themonies Luxury Suites sits at the fringe of Chora on Folegandros, a walk from the central square, and looks across the town to the Monastery of Panaghia and out to the Aegean. It occupies a complete agricultural stone complex of the late 19th century, with its aloni, the threshing floor, still intact. The owners had been going to the island since 1987, and they bought the land for the old stone structures on it and for that view of Chora opposite. The complex was restored and three new stone buildings were added, making five residences and a central building.
The plot runs to about 5,000 m² and the built area to 450 m². The work was studied in 2007 and built across 2008 to 2009, and the hotel has operated since June 2009. The architectural study is credited to Micro Team Architects, Giorgos Kondylis and Diana Giannopoulou, and the interiors to Diana Giannopoulou.
What a themonia is
On Folegandros the themonies are the island’s farming complexes, rectangular stone structures that once worked as independent rural entities. The word comes from the ancient Greek verb meaning to collect. Ano Meria, the island’s second settlement, is the farming one, and its houses stand apart from one another so as to form the themonies. The island’s Folk Museum occupies a renovated themonia of the same kind.
How the complex was composed
The complex was studied on the model of the kastro of Chora, with elements taken from Ano Meria. The shared functions went into one building and the guest houses into separate, smaller ones, their volumes worked and set into the slope so that they complete the old themonies without overwhelming their scale.
Two new built rainwater cisterns were designed and raised as the centre of gravity of the open ground, where they serve as a central square facing both the shared building and the residences. Their circular form answers the aloni already there. The complex’s original sterna, the rainwater cistern of the old themonies, and its stone steps were left where they stood and kept working inside the new settlement.
The stone walls
The decisive choice was 60 cm local-stone masonry on the new buildings’ external walls. The internal temperature then stayed relatively steady, so that using the modern air-conditioning system was not imperative; every residence has one, individually controlled. Across the complex as a whole the walls run 60 to 110 centimetres, worked with the sizes and orientations of the openings so that rooms light and ventilate themselves and the temperature stays level. The stone came from excavation nearby and was laid to the local building techniques. The outdoor planting was chosen from the island’s own flora, and the outdoor lights were kept to the fewest the place needs.
Inside the old buildings the ceiling timber of feides, a Cycladic bush now rare, was restored where it lay and never taken out. The interiors carry Cycladic detail in a minimal register, the same thinking as the volumes outside.
The five residences
The five are four one-bedroom suites and one two-bedroom villa, each different in layout, design and character, and each with its own verandah or courtyard, furnished in designer teak, looking at Chora, the Monastery of Panaghia and the Aegean. The central building holds the reception, a lower lounge with a fireplace, an outdoor terrace and the lounge bar Arapi. Chora is at the door, the heliport 0.8 km away and the port 2 km.
Who is this for
Themonies suits a traveller who wants a whole house to themselves and a stay long enough to walk Chora on foot. Each residence is fully equipped, with a kitchen or kitchenette and a sitting and dining area, and the rooms carry rare antiques and objets d’art. Breakfast is included and built on fresh local products. The front desk keeps morning and evening hours, room service runs to the same hours, and transfers from the port or the heliport come on request. The complex is cleaned with environmentally friendly products and suits mobility impaired guests.
