Three Alexandrian Mansions, Finney , Rolo, Salvago 3/ Salvago
Three Alexandrian Mansions Finney, Rollo, Salvago
Photos and text © by Ioannis Kallianiotis, unless otherwise stated
These family mansions are still in place, as so many other old buildings in Alexandria. Their difference with the rest, is their maintenance and the new life given to them by their actual owners. It is not self-evident. The key to their survival was their buyers' projects.
The National Bank of Alexandria (Bank el Ahly al Iskandariah) for the Finneys, the Goethe Institut for the Rolos, and the former Soviet Embassy as a Russian Cultural Center for the Salvagos.
The city's long economic immobility has been a double-edged sword. Many of the country houses and mansions in their legendary gardens in the Alexandrian suburbs, Roushdy, Lauran, Schutz, Bulkley were not as lucky. Reconstruction ruined the majority of them.
Those family names connected with the specific three mansions are Alexandrian legends. Their wealth was mythical. In the same time these families were employers with humanitarian and cultural care for their people. Finally, their way of living was the combination of acute business activity, rare and discreet taste and a benefactory concern for the less privileged. All that was never deprived of a certain joie de vivre.
3 / Salvago Mansion
A photograph of 1985
We visited the site 3 times, in 2010, 2023 and 2024 and photographed what was of common access. Based on those images, helped by some personal memories and the selection of passages of various writers on the subject, we tried to bring back something from the history of the family that has now been shrouded in the haze of myth.
This article was almost ready for publication with the odd gaps and shortcomings, due mainly to the absence of direct personal historical testimony.
And then the article got lucky...
An excursion to Roviés, in the Greek island of Evia, thanks to the hospitality of Miltos Kastrinos and Melina Panayiotou, led us to the enchanting 3.000 acres' "Olivegrove" .
The owners used to be the Papadopoulos family, married to legendary brides, Anna Mélâ, Alexandra Délta and Argini Salvago (the younger).
A milestone for the area was the donation by Anna Papadopoulos, granddaughter of Anna Mélâ and Alexandra Délta, of the 3,000 acres of the "Olivegrove" to local farmers.
The acquaintance with Stéfanos Vallis, son of Argini Constantino Salvago, led us to the good fairy of memory, personified by his aunt Mrs. Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo, granddaughter of the mythical Argini Bénaki-Salvago.
She welcomed us with the characteristic simplicity of the natural nobility and helped us navigate through both her grandmother's old house (built before 1900), and her father's house (built in 1939).
The valuable information she gave to us is scattered in the text and marked with her initials (I.S.)
The first opportunity to visit the interior of the large house came in 2010. I was passing by and no personnel was visible. The metal object control canopy at the entrance of the garden was unmanned and deactivated. I took the outer staircase in to the house in silence...
(Screenshots from a hastily filmed video)
... Through the hallway, I reached the polished staircase...
... in absolute silence!
The enchanting stained glass window...
... For so many years, since childhood, I was only able to see its back side from the street, like a sketch in grisaille...
I quietly climbed the stairs stepping on the original carpet from the old times (I.S.)
The doors lined with mirrors, as in the times of the Salvagos, led to the bedrooms of Miké and Argini Salvago, the dressings, the bathrooms, and their windows looking in the garden (I.S.).
The 1rst floor while inhabited by the Salvagos, © Irene Salvago-Choriatopoulo
On the left, airy rooms, mirrors, bars, obviously a space for dance classes...
These rooms, were the salon, dressing, bedroom and bathroom, used by Ioulia Salvago (née Râlli) after her widowhood (I.S.).
I approached the open windows...
... overlooking the fresh garden...
... and an open-air theater for film projections, dance or theater performances of the Cultural Center
This was the exact location of the villa of Constantino Salvago (1902-1963), husband of Angeliki and father of Argini and Irini Salvago, built in 1939, by the French architect Leman (architect of the Kotsikio Hospital) (I.S.).
I had visited part of it when it was rented and inhabited by the Thlivitis family from 1961 to 1983 (information by Irini Thlivitis).
External view of the house of C.M. Salvago, 21, Rue des Abassides, as seen from the garden of the Salvago mansion, 5, Rue des Ptolémées. Collection of Irini C. Salvago.
Its outer door, on 21 rue des Abassides, gave into a relatively small hallway, from which the staircase led upwards to the first floor and downwards to the large basement illuminated by elongated windows.
On the ground floor, on the right, wardrobes and the visitors' W.C. On the left, the children's study (I.S.).
In the middle, was the entrance to the important white reception area sparsely furnished and used as a banquet, or dance hall with alcoves with inlaid mirrors. On the left, a smaller and a larger drawing room, on the right, a serving area and the dining room. The entire ground floor, gave in to the luscious garden through three arches (I.S.).
Photo from the ballroom of C.M. Salvago, towards the garden and Rue des Pharaons, where the now demolished De Saab Mansion (I.S.) can be seen. Collection of Irini C. Salvago.
Upstairs, in the center, the parents' large bedroom, their dressing, their bathroom. Next door, the children's rooms all facing to the south and their common veranda covered with lawn! On the north side, a guest room (I.S.).
Unfortunately, this house has been demolished.
To cross a garden (Memories of Irini C. Salvago)
"It is known that our family (like many-many Greeks of Egypt) were pro-Venizélos (thus anti-Royalist)
As President of the Greek Community in Alexandria, however, my grandfather (M.C. Salvago) felt bound by duty to host King George II, of the Hellenes, Head of State in exile, during WW2. My father (C.M. Salvagos), although not in his early youth, enlisted as a volunteer, and fought in El Alamein (War Cross).
During a brief interruption of the hostilities, he returned home for a few hours, had a shower, put on a clean uniform, a pair of brown shoes and made his way through the garden to see his mother.
In the garden he was stopped by the b King, who addressed him by his military rank and reprimanded him for not wearing his military boots! "
Let's imagine that we are looking from the first floor terrace, of the new house, towards the paternal house...
The Salvago mansion, as seen from the house of C.M. Salvago. Collection of Irini C. Salvago.
Still on my first visit to the old house, I stand on the first floor of the main building, alone and in absence of any personnel, not daring to advance towards the rooms.
As Mrs. Irini Salvago told us, the private apartments of Miké and Argini Salvago started at the mirror clad wooden lacquered doors. Her own family, lived at the upper floor, until their own house was built in the park, on 1939.
The staircase to the upper floor, © Irene Salvago-Choriatopoulo
I start to descend quietly... but the personnel's break is over. Gently but firmly, I'm reprimanded: No, no, no... Pleading to be excused I swiftly take my leave towards the garden.
My second visit took place in March 2023, with the introduction of Giorgo Kypréos (1947-2025), whose Bibliotheca Alexandrina card opened doors. The Ukrainian issue stiffened relations. We were allowed to photograph the garden and the staircase, but were given no access to the 1st floor, or the reception rooms.
Tea in the gardens of the Mansion before 1948, for the executives of the Salvago companies.
Huber Family Collection.
Standing on the right, Adolfo Huber and his wife Gabriella (née Hamos).
Huber Family Collection
According to Giorgo Kypréos, the Salvago family often organized generous fun events in the garden entertaining less privileged children. Giorgo was an Argini Salvago scholarship holder. His maternal grandmother Mathilde (Mado) Triossi-Vassiliadis, was a good friend of hers.
Almost half of the garden area has been sold and 3 apartment buildings have been built.
On the left, as we mentioned, was the smaller mansion of Constantino Salvago (1902-1963) which has been demolished. At the other end of the garden there was a corner building that housed six separate garages facing the two rear streets of the garden plot (Abassides and Goussio). Above each garage was a small apartment for each driver. Probably at the back of the garden was the location of the wooden chalet where the family of Mario Huber, Miké Salvago's majordomo, lived.
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On the left, the children of Majordomo Mario Huber, Ernesta and Adolfo, photographed on the terrace of the main mansion. Adolfo (1913-1974), a godchild of Argini Salvago, worked for years in the Salvago companies. On the right, a Florentine piece of furniture, wedding gift to her godchild.
(Huber family collection).
During WW 2, when King George II of Greece was hosted here, the comments about the King's safety flared up, in a house with an Italian majordomo ... the landlord of the house, President of the Greek Community, ignored them ... The King's remark: How will I ever be able to repay such hospitality?
Signed photograph of King George II of the Hellenes, with Argini Benaki-Salvago, 18.5.1942
Courtesy © Stefanos & Marina Vallis
We enter the mansion
In the background, the door of the ballroom (I.S.)
The atmosphere of a cathedral
G. NERET Paris
The grand lobby is photographed here, from the door of the ballroom, when the house was inhabited by the family. Photo by Sotheby's.
We observe the screen behind the front door. The armchairs right in front of the entrance of the large reception areas, obviously a family soft spot, were removed on grand reception occasions.
The armchair on the right was the one of Argini Salvago (I.S.).
We notice oriental porcelain items and part of the valuable Ottoman textile collection.
There are at least three rooms we did not visit on the ground floor. A small dark drawing room to the left of the entrance, where confession was made before the Holy Communion, usually by Father Ioannis Karaminas, a smaller and a larger drawing room (I.S.).
The small dark drawing room with the portrait of her great grandfather's mother, © Irene Salvago-Choriatopoulo
The portrait of her great grandfather's mother, © Irene Salvago-Choriatopoulo
A glimpse of Giorgo Kypréos at the left...that was it, for this time..
The third opportunity was presented on October 31, 2024, with the opening of an exhibition by a Russian painter. The grand reception areas were opened on this occasion.
Waiting for a while on the comfortable sofas, on both sides of the large door of the ballroom.
The ballroom, its entrance to the left, the garden to the right, © Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo
The ballroom. The garden at the left, in front behind the three openings the small drawing room with the display cases holding Catherine the Great's porcelain, © Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo
This inauguration revealed to us two large reception areas in excellent condition of maintenance
The first large space was the ballroom in pale green, gray and white colours, with large Murano style chandeliers, but also illuminated stained glass inserts on the ceiling that give the illusion of natural light.
Elongated glass surfaces with similar designs are placed on the top of the windows filtering the light.
On the long side of the ballroom and opposite the large entrance, two niches host gilded furniture, probably offering a sitting break between two dances. They were hidden behind panels bearing works by the painter, but we managed to have a glimpse.
In the background on the right, there is a private drawing room, protected by wooden folding doors. In this area, the precious dinnerware of Catherine II of Russia, was kept in custom made display cases (I.S.).
Now a gilded salon, a bust probably of King Fouad, flags, are faintly visible.
We pass to the next space to the left
To the left of the living room, another large elongated reception area, off-white with dark gold decorations, gives the impression of an older renovation. It was the large drawing room and its collections (I.S.). The room runs across the large covered terrace.
The large drawing room when inhabited by the Salvagos, © Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo
The large drawing room towards the ballroom, © Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo
Now
On prend congé (we're leaving)
Au revoir...
Let us now examine what we've found in the bibliography about the Salvagos
Their origins from Chios island
On aplotaria.gr website you will find stories in Greek by the "Philistor" Vassilis Agiannidis, about the origins of the Salvago family from Genoa and their properties in Cambos, Chios.
Here are my photos from a visit to Cambos, Chios in December 2023
The Salvago mansion in Cambos, Chios, December 2023
Abandoned, it already bears a worn sign of "Kerdôos (profit bearer) Hérmés" (what else...), for restoration works at a budget of 20 million euros.
In Alexandria
In the valuable book by Mrs. MatoûlaTomarâ-Sidéri, Academy of Athens award, "Alexandrian families Chorémi-Bénâki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013, we find details about the genitors of the Alexandrian period of the family.
First of all, Constantino Salvago (b. 1846 in Marseilles) who arrived in Alexandria in 1865 and was engaged in the cotton trade and banking business. His father has already been successfully settled in Alexandria before 1850.
In 1874 Constantino married in Constantinople, Ioulia Stéfano Râlli (b. 1854 in Marseille), whose father's activities extended to India and North America.
Constantino and Ioulia Salvago (in different ages) Argini & Irini C. Salvago Collection.
M. Tomarâ-Sidéri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Bénâki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
Let's read Penelope Délta, older sister of Argini Salvago and a well known Greek writer (First Memories, edited by P. Zannas, Hermes Publications, Athens 1980) :
"Argini was born in April 1883. That year, all the most prominent Greeks of Alexandria bought plots of land on Rosetta Street (today's Fouad), beyond the built city, in a then deserted place, towards the outer gate that closed Rosetta Street. The gates have since been demolished, and the whole place called Porte Rosette, which closed off the city towards Râmle, became parks and orchards. Since only Greeks bought those remote plots and all together built their houses, this district was called Quartier Grec....."
Courtesy and generous concession of the Cairo born Greek architect ©️Nikolaos Sfikas:
A street plan of Quartier Grec, circa 1900, digitized by Nikolaos Sfikas©️ and from his book "Alexandria from Cavafy to Alexander the Great", AΩ Publications, 2018, sponsored by the Greek Community of Cairo.
Plan of the plot and the house of Salvago, ©️ Nikolaos Sfikas, as included between Ptolemy streets on the left, Goussio street on the right, Abbasides above and Pharaoh below.
On the upper right of the plot is the now demolished villa of C.M. Salvago.
About 3/5 of the garden is now occupied by apartment buildings built after 1980.
The above plot plan, comes from the street plan digitized ©️ by Nikolaos Sfikas.
When was the house built? Who is the architect?
Constantine Salvago probably originally had a house in Rue Rosette (today's Fouad). Later, and certainly before 1900, he built the large house in Rue des Ptolemées (I.S.).
He died suddenly at Ostende, Belgium in August 1901, at the age of 55, and his body was transported via Marseille to Alexandria, in October of the same year "and deposited at the heart of the great hall of the magnificent Salvago House on Ptolemy Street" (Radâmanthys Radôpoulos in his book "Album of the Celebration of the Annunciation Cathedral")
His funeral took place only a few months after the marriage of his son Miké to Argini Bénâki in April 1901.
Internet sources incorrectly mention 1913 as the year of the house's construction, but not the architect.
His widow Ioulia Salvago will keep the front rooms on the 1st floor and the house is now taken over by the new bride Argini Bénâki-Salvago.
Argini Bénâki
P.S. Delta "First Memories", Hermes Publications, 1980
Argini Bénâki (Internet photo)
The American judge Jasper Brinton of the Mixed Courts of Alexandria, for Argini Salvago shortly after 1920: "She was the high priestess of good society. With her stunning violet eyes, she was one of the most beautiful women in Europe, a Parisian celebrity in her youth."
Michael Haag: "Alexandria the City of Memory", Oceanida Publications, 2004, translation by D.G. Stefanakis
Argini Salvago and her children Constantino and Ioulia in Alexandria
Argini & Irini C. Salvago Collection
M. Tomarâ-Sidéri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Bénâki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
The famous profile of Argini Salvago as Marianne - symbol of the French Republic, on a 1947 French franc coin (first issued in 1928) by the famous engraver Alexandre Morlon (1878-1951).
Collection of Ioulia G. Mélâ
M. Tomara-Sideri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Bénâki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
Argini Salvago, a photographer
A sizeable surprise concerning Argini Salvago was revealed in Maria Karavia's book of rare aesthetics: "Odéssa the Forgotten Homeland" Agra Publications, Stavros Petsopoulos, 1998.
To start with, whether it is a cultural report, a book, or a television show, Mrs. Maria Karavia is a model in writing or oral presentation, in terms of style and content. The details shine and color the narrative, describing people and situations, sometimes in rough lines and sometimes in semitones.
In this book, therefore, we meet Argini Salvago as a photographer in pre-revolutionary Russia. It would be frivolous to characterize her as an amateur, unless we refer to the Greek etymology of the word (lover of art). This is also due to the typographic feat of Stavros Petsopoulos' Agra Publications, where the printing of stereoscopic and other photographs highlights the subjects as well as the virtues of the photographers.
In her estate in Baranofka, where she runs her own factory, producing the famous homonymous porcelain, lives the equally talented photographer Mary Paraskevâ, née Grypâri from Mykonos, whom Argini had met in Alexandria before 1905. Her husband Nikos Paraskevâs, an Alexandrian engineer, is the builder in 1924 of the famous Okélla Menâsce at 65 Rue Fouad, as well as many other buildings in Alexandria such as the Averoff Girls' School.
Argini visits Russia for the first time in 1914, in the summer of the beginning of World War I and for the second time on the outbreak of the 1917 Revolution. With her friend Mary Paraskevâ, they photograph each other and the landscapes. She also photographs the Russian conscription of 1914 and the first troops passing through the Grypâri estates, holding up the portrait of the Tsar and the sacred icons.
On her last departure in 1917, the authorities confiscate her films and any evidence of that year was lost.
Mary and Nikos Paraskevâs photographed in their garden by Argini Salvago
Archives of Mrs. Argini Papadopoulo
Argini Salvago in the middle, Jeanne Grypâri (née Râlli) on the left, Mary Paraskevâ on the right
Maria Karavia "Odéssa the Forgotten Homeland" Agra Publications, 1998
Archives of Mrs. Argini Papadopoulo
Interior of a Russian hut with icons and colorful folk embroidery
Photography by Argini Salvago, Collection of Mrs. Argini Papadopoulo.
The Slucz River that separated the Grypâri estates from those of Prince Gagârin
Photography by Argini Salvago, Collection of Mrs. Argini Papadopoulo.
The photographs of Argini Salvago, annotated by her and carefully placed in albums, were lost during the family's various peregrinations. But they seemed to be numerous, since this, the only album that survived until the publication of the book, has the number 25.
Unfortunately, this one was lost too, victim of an unfortunate loan (I.S.)
Argini Salvago at a 1920's bal masqué, in an embroidered oriental costume. Muslin veils in two colours. Diamond tiara, worn fashionably low on the forehead. A large diamond solitaire high up, is surrounded by dark feathers. The hem reveals a slim ankle and a satin slipper.
The photograph bears a handwritten signed dedication in French: En souvenir de la très charmante soirée du 20 Mars 1920, Argine Salvago.
From the book "Vintage Alexandria, photographs of the City 1860-1960, Michael Haag", AUC Press
At this point it is worth reading (in the First Memories, edited by P. Zannas, Hérmès Publications, Athens 1980, pages 165-167), the description by Penelope Delta of the bal masqué given by her parents Virginia and Emmanuel Bénâki in the winter of 1886-1887, at their home in Rue Rosette (today's Rue Fouad).
Let us also remind the reader, that the elder brother of Penelope Delta and Argini Salvago is no other than Antony Bénâki the grand collector and founder of the Bénâki Museum in Athens.
Andréas Michalakopoulos (center) between Miké Salvago (left) and Radamanthys Radopoulos outside the Averoff Gymnasium (24/2/1930).
From the book by Aléko Lidorikis, "Pre-war Egypt and the Greeks", Kastaniotis Publications, 2005.
Constantino and Angeliki Salvago
Argini & Irini C. Salvago Collection
M. Tomarâ-Sidéri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Bénâki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
In this book Mrs. Tomarâ-Sidéri, records the many and multifaceted business activities of the Salvago family, as well as their important charitable contributions.
Other books record more cosmopolitan activities...
The Club Mohammed Ali (2023)
In his book "Once upon a Time, a Diplomat", Volume A, Estia Bookstore, 1984, the young diplomat Angelo Vlachos, who fought at the Antifascist war against Italy in Albania, a refugee in Alexandria in 1943, at his father's home (Stavros Vlachos, Judge at the Mixed Courts), writes:
"The night we had dinner at Club Mohamed Aly was a Saturday, when a lot of people come to play cards, baccarat. The gentlemen wore tuxedos and the ladies' evening dresses were adorned with unique jewels. Among them, Mrs. Argini Salvago, one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen in my life, stood out very much. My father's contemporary, 61 years old at the time, erased every other female presence around her. Face, body, physique, hand movements were all perfect, naturally, without a trace of pretense. That night, sitting at the big baccarat table, she was adorned with amazing emeralds, necklace, earrings, bracelet and dominated majestically the game. The bank was held by a middle-aged Jewish businessman who lost E.G.15,000 in a quarter of an hour! He got up in a state of shock and gave up his place to someone else."
The aforementioned book of Mrs. Tomara-Sideri records also a small part of their charitable contributions...
Argini Salvago, President of the Committee "The Soldier's Parcel". Between 1940 and 1944 parcels were being prepared in the Salvago house by herself, her husband Miké, and other collaborators. They contained necessary and useful items for the soldiers.
(The Alexandrian historian Iréne Chryssochéri in Nikolaos Sfikas' book ©️"Alexandria from Cavafy to Alexander the Great").
Visit of King George II of the Hellenes (c.1942-43), at the Benaki Girls' Orphanage. Second from the right is Argini Salvago (née Benaki). On the far right, Angeliki Panagiotâtou (E.S.).
I & M. Chorémi Collection
M. Tomara-Sideri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Benaki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
Patriarch Alexios of Moscow visits the Greek Schools of Alexandria in 1945.
On the left, Miké Salvago (E.S.). Third from the right is Argini Salvago. Mikis G. Melas Collection.
M. Tomara-Sideri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Benaki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
The Patriarch of Moscow visits the Kotsikio Hospital.
Third from the right, Argini Salvago, in the uniform of the Red Cross. Mikis G. Melas Collection.
At the top of the stairs are the nurses of Kotsikio. They wear their characteristic white coiffes. On Good Friday, in the procession of the Epitaph around the Hospital, they framed like white birds, the dark-colored lacquered walnut Epitaph, adorned only with white calla lilies.
M. Tomara-Sideri, "Alexandrian families of Choremi-Benaki-Salvagou, Corfu Publications, 2013.
From the 1953 catalogue "Mondain Egyptien et du Proche Orient"
For Argini M. Salvago: George I, Golden Cross, Hellenic Military Cross of Exceptional Deeds, Hellenic War Cross of the Middle East 1941-1945, Holy Sepulcher Cross, Hellenic Red Cross, Commander of the Battalion of Exceptional Deeds, Rentière, President of many Greek charitable foundations. Address: 5, Ptolemies Street, tel. 21166 and 27616 ALEXANDRIA. Clubs: R.Y.C.E (Royal Yacht Club Egypt), A.S.C. (Alexandria Sporting Club), R.A.C.E (Royal Automobile Club Egypt), R.A.C. London, Touring Club de France, Automobile Club Suisse.
For C.M. Salvago: Commander of the Phoenix, Hellenic War Cross
1rst Vice President of the Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Director of C.M. Salvago & Co., President of the Committee of the Minet El Bâssal Stock Exchange, President of the Cotton Cleaning and Pressing S.A., Governor of: Egyptian National Textile Company, Egyptian Textile Industry, Egyptian Knitting Company, Agricultural Bank, Alexandria Water Company Ltd., Egyptian Copper Companies, Egyptian Oil Company, Karba Company.
Born in Alexandria on 2/11/1902. Education: Averoff High School, Paris Law School, graduated as a Lawyer. Wife, Angeliki, b. Salvago. Address 21, Abbasides Street, tel. 28491, ALEXANDRIA. Clubs: MA (Mohamed Ali) Cairo and Alexandria, R.A.C.E (Royal Automobile Club Egypt), R.Y.C.E (Royal Yacht Club Egypt), A.S.C. (Alexandria Sporting Club), C.R.E.C. (Cercle Royal Equéstre Caire), Athenian Club, Sailing Club of Greece.
Miké (1875-1948) and Argini Salvago (1883-1973) at somewhat similar ages
Argini & Irini C. Salvago Collection
M. Tomara-Sideri, "Alexandrian families of Chorémi-Benaki-Salvago", Corfu Publications, 2013.
Argini Salvago in the living room of the upper floor (I.S.) in 1952. On the top of the library, overcrowded with books, a collection of Persian glassware. Photo by Sotheby's
Here is the description of a gala dinner given by Argini Salvago (then 76 years old) at her home in Alexandria in 1959, from a letter by her niece Sofia Mavrogordâto, firstborn daughter of Stéfanos and Penelope Delta.
"Zannaioi and Alex, Antonis and all the children. I'm going to describe here yesterday's, basically spent by all of us preparing today's dinner table. Guests: 18 people, among them in addition to Sursocks, Modai, Khoury and the like, as VIP's were a prince Alphonso Pio and another Giannantonio, Chevalier de la Croix de Malte. From the eve the table was prepared with Backarat glasses, Nymphenburg and old Saxe for the tableware. The last from the collection of Catherine the Great of Russia! The milieu de table and other bibelots that adorned the table, came out of one of the vitrines of the large living room, all Saxe! All this placed on a long golden milieu. Three jars of red cloves and white small flowers. The silverware shone, all the lights were on, walls and the center. On the table the candles were decorated in two large candélabres. Egyptians in white galabia, women and men of the house, all of them since early in the morning brought something, took something, wiped something, cleaned something! Silver platters, salad bowls, composters, fruit bowls, lace towels, everything came out of the drawers... The "chef jardinier", Salâme and his staff prepared and decorated all the vases, small, large with calla lilies, with roses, with some unknown yellow flowers. Aunty, made the rounds of the three lounges of the lobby and the dining room! She put her hand everywhere, corrected something, added something, shifted something. Each one had the menu with their name and at the entrance a panel had the whole table designed with their position and names marked upon! She is unimaginable and admirable! The men servants, five of them in white sofragui uniform with gold embroideries, and Daoud in green and gold and happy for his grandeur, opened the dining room door when the time came. The gentlemen were "en smoking" and the women, in silk and lamé evening dresses! Aunty was ready at 20.30 - still running and added with a dropper in the bowls "Cidre" of Houbigant, (a miraculous aromatic citrus fragrance), to rinse our fingers at the end of the meal - I would have taken a bath in there if they let me! But they didn't - of course, and the water was thrown away! What a pity!"
The description of Argini Salvago's dinner from a letter by Sofia Mavrogordâto, firstborn daughter of Stéfanos and Penelope Delta, written in Alexandria on February 5, 1959. Benaki Museum Historical Archive 542/1372. Mentioned in Maria Karavia's book "Odessa the Forgotten Homeland", Agra Publications, 1998.
A golden milieu de table (somewhat similar to the one described above), from the Danish Court. Usually the horizontal surface is lined with a mirror so that the reflection magnifies the decorations, porcelain or flowers.
Memory of Argini Salvago's great-grandson, Stéfanos Vallis, related by his wife Marina: At the few grand dinners I attended at the big house (he left Alexandria in 1962, when 9 years old), the suffering of a child was great. Of course, you had to sit properly, no spilling, no silly talk, etc.
The signal to start eating was given by the great grandmother raising her fork. When she did put it down at the end, the meal was over. As the children were served last, the time laps was often insufficient for them...
The dining room © Irini Salvago-Choriatopoulo
The Salvago mansion was very close to the mansion of Ioannis Sakellaridis, a well-known agronomist and inventor of the longest fiber in Egyptian cotton. He donated this mansion to the Greek State in order to house the Greek Consulate in Alexandria (source of information, my father Spyros Kallianiotis). In the past, it was probably a Benaki property, as indicated by the monograms TB on the gates.
My father worked in that building from 1948 to 1972. Very close to it (Fouad 84), we were renting an apartment, on the 3rd floor of the OkéllaToriel . In the same building, Maria Sakellaridi, the daughter of the agronomist, rented an apartment on the 1st floor.
The Okélla Toriel
For those fond of symbols, let me mention that at this crossroads of Fouad and Ptolemies' streets, a marble head of Alexander the Great was lately discovered. Today it adorns the city's Greco-Roman Museum.
At times outside her mansion, her imposing black Rolls-Royce with off-white details was awaiting Mrs. Salvago. Out of discretion, pedestrians crossed to the opposite sidewalk.
Argini Salvago was one of the last big names to depart from Alexandria. In fact, she was forced to leave after the seizure of this very mansion.
The Egyptian state started by imposing a huge tax. The only solution was to sell.
The only purchase offer came from the Soviet Embassy's side (1968), and the sum corresponded exactly to that of the tax. So, overnight the mansion became a Soviet cultural center and the proceeds of the sale passed directly to the Egyptian state. (Source, Spyros Kallianiotis 1915-1982).
The Embassy maintained a rich cultural program of Soviet origin, that turned decisively pale after the death of President Nasser and the well-known geopolitical turn of President Sadat.
This forced "purchase" took place in 1968, the year in which Argini Salvago departed by ship from Alexandria.
That afternoon my father returned at home pale and in a sad mood. To my mother's questions, he answered: "No one will know under which circumstances Mrs. Salvago left Alexandria."
Earlier, he had accompanied her on the ship on behalf of the Greek Consulate, with her personal doctor Vassili Karakatsanis. Later the doctor - a close family friend of ours - hinted that the customs and other Egyptian authorities made the overnight experience exhausting, under the pretext of illegal export of insignificant personal items.
This is how the family's presence in the Mansion ended. The maintenance of the premises is excellent and the spirit - the genius - of the Salvagos is always present, despite the drastic change of scenography...
I hope this text will allow the reader to recall something of the aura of this place and its history.
Post scriptum
Il Sequéstro *
* The responsible person for the sequestration - taking legal possession of assets
The process of removing something or someone from their normal environment or context, often involving isolation or separation
The slender lady dressed in a white and blue printed dress sits on a high plateau overlooking the sparkling sea.
She looks unbelievably younger than her age. The Alexandrian charm perhaps.
Surrounded by the olivegrove, her thoughts take her to Alexandria, in the 1980's.
She recounts: "I went to the Company's offices, where for a period I worked as my father's secretary. At his place was seated the Sequéstro".
The word sounded like wood and steel on flesh - the guillotine! Images suddenly emerged of fierce people in long cloaks over their shoulders, maybe masks, like an echo of the Salvago origins from Genoa.
"Courteous, as everyone in this country, offered us turkish coffee.
He opened my father's office top drawer and retrieved a big silver box.
- What is this? he asked.
- This is the present for our father's 30 years' commercial activity, with the signatures of all our agents throughout the world.
He looked now at the box in another way.
- I propose to offer you a silver box of equal value and keep this one. To us, it is a family heirloom.
- Lâa, lâa (no, no) and the box slipped back in the drawer.
But do come again and have coffee with us...
The offices of C.M.Salvago & Co in Rue Chérif (2023). Opposite stood the Okélla Ambét (torn down during the bombardment of 1882), where the Cavafy family rented 2 or 3 floors in their heyday.
Text and photographs © by Ioannis Kallianiotis, unless otherwise stated
