"Fotis Kolakidis"

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Fotis Kolakidis was a Greek Cypriot architect. He was Mayor of Limassol in 1973–1986.

Biographical data

Fotis Kolakidis was born in Alexandria in 1923. His father was a Greek Cypriot. He graduated from Limassol High School. Subsequently, he studied architecture at Columbia University. He then obtained a master's degree in architecture from Harvard University.

He worked at New York, San Francisco, and Boston architectural offices. He apprenticed to the great theoretical and teacher of modern architecture Walter Gropius and worked with him at the T.A.C. cooperative (The Architects Collaborative).

He then established his own architectural office in Cyprus under the name Kolakidis & Associate Architects and Engineers, which dealt with residential, commercial, school and tourist projects in Cyprus and Syria. He was a member of ETEC and RIBA. In 1958 she founded a second company under the name Colakides Development Company Ltd, which was the first development company in Cyprus, having been active in building the first apartment building in Cyprus for sale of apartments, namely the well-known seven-pateau of Limassol, whose impact brought enormous changes to the development and radical change in the urban development of the Cypriot cities. Also, as an architect of the first luxury hotels Amathus, Meridien and Sheraton (later St. Raphael) helped place Limassol on the high tourism tourist map that changed the city's appearance and lifestyle of its inhabitants.

He served as president of the Association of Civil Engineers and Architects of Cyprus 1965-1970, the Cyprus-American Academic Association (1968-1972) and the Rotarian Limassol Group (1968-1969). In addition, he served as a member of the Cyprus UNESCO Committee (1976-1987).

He represented Cyprus at many international conferences as architect and mayor. He received honorary distinctions from the Cyprus Civil Engineers and Architects Association on the 25th and 50th anniversary of the Association and was awarded the golden key of the city of Thessaloniki.

He died on 11 November 2009.

Municipalities Fotis Kolakidis

In August 1973 he was appointed Mayor of Limassol, a position in which he remained until May 1986 when the first municipal elections took place in the Republic of Cyprus. In addition, in 1980-1986 he served as Deputy Chairman of the Association of Municipalities of Cyprus and Vice-President of the Committee on the Environment and Urban Planning of the Local Authorities of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

During the term at the town hall there was a complete lack of financial resources of the municipality due to the coup and the 1974 Turkish invasion. However, following many efforts to secure sponsorships from the state, loan from banks and with the contribution of significant donations from well-known Limassolians, significant projects were created in the city, upgrading the Limassol Municipality's property