The Ilisian is a redevelopment of the historic Athens Hilton hotel, set to open in 2025. It is located in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece, on Vassilissis Sofias Avenue, within the Hilton Area, adjacent to the

Kolonaki Kolonaki (, ), literally "Little Column", is an upscale neighborhood in central Athens, Greece. It is located on the southern slopes of Mount Lycabettus. Its name derives from the two metre column (located in Kolonaki Square) that defined the area ...

and Pangrati neighbourhoods. Opened in 1963, it closed for renovations in January 2022. When it reopens in November 2025, it will contain the Conrad Athens The Ilisian, and new luxury residences under the Conrad and Waldorf Astoria brands on the top floors of the building.

History

Athens Hilton

The Athens Hilton was constructed from 1958-1963, as Athens' first international chain hotel. It was designed by a team of

architects An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

including Emmanuel Vourekas, Prokopis Vasileiadis, Anthony Georgiades and Spyro Staikos. Artist Yiannis Moralis, inspired by Greek themes, designed the

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

s on the building's

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

Conrad Hilton Conrad Nicholson Hilton (December 25, 1887 – January 3, 1979) was an American hotel magnate and politician who founded the Hilton Hotels chain. From 1912 to 1916, Hilton was a Republican representative in the first New Mexico Legislature ...

was present at the opening ceremony, on April 20, 1963. Guests at the hotel included Greek shipping magnate

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; , ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was marri ...

, singer

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

, director

Ingmar Bergman Ernst Ingmar Bergman (14 July 1918 – 30 July 2007) was a Swedish film and theatre director and screenwriter. Widely considered one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, his films have been described as "profoun ...

and actor

Anthony Quinn Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...

. Hilton Athens was the headquarters for the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

during the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

. In 2011 the organizing committee of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games used the hotel as their base of operations. The hotel hosted Athens’ first contemporary

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

, the Hilton Gallery, in cooperation with Marilena Liacopoulou. From 1968 until 1972 the Hilton Gallery was responsible for various historical

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...

s. In more recent years, the hotel displayed

artwork A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...

s and invested regularly in lobby exhibitions of artists from Greece and abroad. In 2003, anticipating the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, the Hilton Athens was renovated by Greek architects Alexandros Tombazis and Charis Bougadelis. The establishment was refurbished, and a new seven-storey northern wing was added. In 2016, Ionian Hotels, the company owning the hotel, was sold by Alpha Bank, which had foreclosed on the property. The Greek TEMES S.A. hotel organization and the Turkish-based Dogus Group partnered 50/50 to buy the hotel for € 76.1 million. In 2019, TEMES bought a controlling interest in the hotel, raising their stake to 51%, while their partner, The Olayan Group, bought out the remaining 49% interest held by Dogus. The hotel closed on January 31, 2022, for comprehensive renovations.

The Ilisian

The building is set to reopen in 2025 as ''The Illisian''. The lower levels will contain the ''Conrad Athens The Ilisian'' hotel, part of Hilton's luxury

Conrad Hotels Conrad Hotels & Resorts is an American multinational brand of high-end luxury hotels and high-end luxury resorts owned and operated by Hilton Worldwide. As of December 31, 2021, it has 42 locations with 15,085 rooms in 21 countries and territor ...

division. The hotel portion will be reduced from 506 rooms to 278 rooms. The top floors of the building will be converted to luxury residences, 18 under the "Conrad Residences" brand and 37 under the "Waldorf Astoria Residences" brand.

Facilities

The hotel had a restaurant and rooftop bar. It had a spa and a 25m by 15m outdoor

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

. File:The Athens Hilton as seen from the neighbourhood of Pagrati.jpg, The Athens Hilton as seen from the neighbourhood of Pagrati.

References

External links

{{Commonscatinline
The Ilisian official websiteConrad Athens The Ilisian official websiteIonian Hotels official website
Hotels in Athens Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotels Hotels established in 1963 Hotel buildings completed in 1963