The second life of a grand residence

How bbf: brought :legacy back to life – through the eyes of architect Floris Panayides

In the heart of Nicosia, just steps away from the city’s iconic Venetian walls, stands one of its most distinctive architectural gems. The building on 7 Markou Drakou Street – a rare neoclassical structure from the interwar period – has found new purpose thanks to the initiative of bbf:, which transformed it into a contemporary workspace while preserving its identity and character intact. Today, it houses the company’s Nicosia offices.

We met architect Floris Panayides on a December afternoon, just as a long awaited gentle rainn began to fall over the city. The scent of wet earth slipped through the shutters, filling the room with a warm, nostalgic mood. We sat in the hall that now serves as the board room – a space where classic and modern coexist harmoniously, much like the story of the building itself.

Panayides, a calm and gracious presence, speaks with passion about his work, about history, architecture and the buildings that carry memories. In this warm and familiar atmosphere, our conversation unfolded like a dialogue between the past and present of a house that seems to have awakened after decades of silence.

The story behind a 1930s grand residence

After introductions, as our conversation began to deepen, Floris Panayides took us back to interwar Nicosia – smaller, more human, moving to the rhythms of another era. Holding a warm cup of tea, he began recounting the history of the building.

“This house was designed by Theodoros Photiades, the first architect of Cyprus,” he told us. Photiades had just returned to Cyprus around 1930, a fresh graduate of the National Technical University of Athens, bringing with him European neoclassical influences that had never been tested in Cypriot architecture. At that time, he was the only Cypriot with an architectural degree – a pioneer in his field – so it wasn’t long before institutions such as the Church of Cyprus sought his collaboration. One such partnership produced the distinctive bell tower of Faneromeni Church in old Nicosia.

It was around this period that Photiades also designed and created the Pantazis family home – an elegant mansion that would become part of the urban memory of Nicosia and, much later, part of the story of bbf:.

A home between two worlds

Panayides explained that mansions of that era always had a “dual identity.” The front part of the house was its formal face – imposing and bright, designed to welcome guests. Behind it, however, lay the world of daily life – the world of Cypriot tradition.

This was where the utility rooms stood: the kitchen where large pots boiled, the basins where halloumi cheese was made, the storage rooms filled with clay jars and demijohns. :legacystill carries traces of that life, like a bridge between the old and the new.

“People lived differently then,” he says. “More modestly, more collectively. Two or three people would share a room. The idea of personal space was completely different from what it is today.”

Materials that withstood time

The building is made mostly of stone, with some walls likely built from adobe. Cement and brick had yet to make their strong entrance into Cypriot construction.

Despite the interventions, the structure remains essentially the same. Only one interior wall was removed; the remaining rooms stand as they did a century ago. The kitchen is still in its original position, while the small auxiliary kitchen and the basement storage room were preserved – along with the clay jars and old bottles discovered when the architect first stepped inside.

The windows and doors tell their own stories. The exterior wooden frames had to be faithfully recreated because they were damaged, but the interior doors are original – featuring a level of craftsmanship rarely seen today: locking mechanisms designed to protect against rain and dust, built with remarkable finesse.

The shutters were originally green, and the front door… a deep burgundy. “We painted it green now,” Panayides notes, “to better reflect the new aesthetic of the building and to harmonise with the colours of the outdoor space.” In the courtyard, the mulberry tree and the olive trees are a century old. “We added only native urban plants to preserve the authenticity of the space,” he says.

Details that reveal more than meets the eye

We sat in silence for a moment, letting the space “speak.” Then Panayides pointed out something that carries a large part of the building’s history: the old coal fireplace at the back of the house.

“It was imported from England,” he explains, holding his mug between his hands. “With a shallow firebox, made of black cast iron – not particularly healthy, but that was the trend then. And the fact that a family could import such a fireplace from England already speaks to their social status.”

But beyond status, the fireplace reveals something deeper: the merging of two worlds. The attempt of Cypriots to adopt European habits while retaining their own pace of life, their traditional practices. This blending of cultures is not foreign to Cyprus – it is part of its identity. An island that, through the centuries, learned to converse with different civilizations and turn them into something uniquely local.

Perhaps that is why, here in Cyprus, everyone can find “their own island.” Their own home. The Legacy fireplace, even now that it no longer burns coal, still reminds us of that.

A neighbourhood that led the way

“The 1930s were a time when Nicosia began to breathe beyond its walls,” Panayides says. Until then, life was confined within the boundaries of the old town. With technological change and the invention of aerial warfare, the walls lost their purpose and significance, and the city began to expand.

The affluent families were the first to build homes just outside—and this area, on the edge of Ayios Andreas, was one of the earliest. The mansions here were not simply houses; they were statements of social identity.

A new era for :legacy

When bbf: took ownership of the building, the goal was clear: to breathe new life into a piece of Nicosia’s history without compromising its authenticity.

The mansion was transformed into a workspace that marries the old with the new – with care, restraint, and deep respect for its heritage. Today’s :legacy stands as a remarkable example of a modern work environment that embraces the architecture of the 1930s rather than overshadowing it.

A mansion that continues to live

As we stood up to say our goodbyes, the evening light brushed against :legacy’s stone walls, making its details appear even more vivid.

Today, thanks to the initiative of bbf:, the mansion is no longer a closed chapter of the past. It is a place full of life, voices, ideas, creation. A workplace that honours its memory while looking ahead.

Perhaps this is the greatest gift one can give to an old house: to give it life again.

And Legacy is truly living its second life. Quietly, gracefully, with the dignity and sweetness of a home that has heard many stories… and is now ready to host many more.