1. The tinkering

In 1754, on a quiet winter morning in Siatista, Mrs. Thalia has a letter…

Emmanuel, run! She calls out to her husband. Our child has sent us a letter.

She opens it eagerly and reads it:

“Dear parents,

After so many years of being away on business in Europe and after making a lot of money from trade, the time has come for me to return home with my wife and our children. Since we would be cramped in your house, I decided to build one of my own in the Yerania neighborhood. So I will need craftsmen. We’ll come, God willing, next month.

Oh what a joy this is!

Said the Mrs. Thalia. I’ll hurry to send a letter to the master builder who built the Mansion of Tzouras or the Mansion of Sanuko. Perhaps it’s even better to call the master builder of the Mansion of Duke Tzatzas; He created a real masterpiece!

He also had a large team of craftsmen with him who all came together from villages filled with such craftsmen, the so-called Mastorochoria. It will be a long journey for them and we must hurry if we want this house started this year …

So, a month later the two gentlemen, the commissioner and the master builder, meet in Siatista:

– Welcome, Mr. Theodore! I am the master builder, also called here protomastoras. Your mother spoke to me. I came to Siatista with my best craftsmen. Builders, marble masons, carpenters and painters. They all know their craft perfectly; We even found the materials needed. Stones, wood, lime and everything else needed for building. We’re ready to work.

– It’s a pleasure to meet you! My lot is large, so I’d like a spacious and beautiful mansion built here. And don’t skimp on the money. I want it to look rich! What would you suggest?

– Hmm… Let’s see… This is where the courtyard will be, with a high stone wall around it and a heavy wooden door for its entrance. It has to be like a little fortress to protect you from bandits. There are often attacks nowadays you know… Inside the courtyard I will make a beautiful garden for your children to play and around it an oven for cooking, a stable for the animals, toilets, and smaller houses for your guests and the staff of the mansion.

– Wonderful!

– Your house will be made of stone on the lower part to make it stronger and on the upper part – to make it lighter – with waddle and daub. It will have a large cellar, a ground floor and two storeys. We’ll put in lots of decorative grills on the windows for protection and an even stronger wooden door at the entrance. The upper floor will have two rows of windows to make the space brighter. It will also have a sahnishi.

– What is a sahnishi?

– A sahnishi is a projection of the wall in the upper rooms and they are supported by wooden beams. Like balconies, let’s say, but enclosed by wall of waddle and daub. We don’t recommend the open balconies here in Siatista. You’ll get cold and the house will be filled with dust!

– All these ideas sound great to me! And how will the rooms of the house be arranged?

– On the ground floor there will be a inner courtyard, the so-called messia. There will be on the left a storage area for your merchandise, the so-called magazi, and another a door leading to the cellar, a space for storing your food, wine, wood and anything else you need to feed and warm yourself. A small staircase on the rightwill take you to the mezzanine, essentially the first floor. The mezzanine’s rooms will be warmer during the winter.

– And how will we get warm? Will there be fireplaces?

– Of course! We’ll have a fireplace in the kitchen to heat up your food and a fireplace in the winter room to keep you warm during the day. This winter room will be a place where the whole family can gather. And of course, we’ll build many utility rooms in the mezzanine.

– What about the second floor?

– There’ll be a staircase next to the main door that leads upstairs to the upper level. The upstairs will have plenty of light to enjoy during the summer.

– You know, I’d like a big room for our gatherings and receptions.

– Of course! We will put a large rectangular room in the centre of the upper floor, the sala, which will have plenty of room for everyone. Around it there will be other rooms, of course. Two lavishly decorated rooms for welcoming and hosting your guests will be facing the courtyard. Two smaller rooms will be built on the other side: you can use them as bedrooms with its own indoor toilets, like the ones all the other rich houses of the Empire and Europe have. All the rooms will have moussandres, wardrobes that is, for you to place your beddings and belongings. We can also make minders, wooden couches for you to sit on, wherever you would like.

– These are brilliant ideas! I’m so excited! And when approximately will my house be ready?

– It will take a while, but I promise you, we’ll do our best to make it fast. The result will surely impress you. We’ll make it just the way you’ve dreamed of!

– Perfect! I can’t wait!

So, soon the construction of one of the most beautiful and impressive mansions of Siatista began, which would go down in history as the Mansion of Poulko.