Ioannis Despotopoulos

Ioannis Despotopoulos (Greek: Ιωάννης Δεσποτόπουλος) also known as Jan Despo was a Greek Architect born in Smyrna (modern Izmir), Ottoman Empire in 1903 7^th of January.

Biography

Soon after he was born, his family moved to island Chios where he grew up. He moved to Athens to study architecture. He was enrolled student at the National Technical University of Athens (N.T.U.A.) until he quit and left for Weimar. He studied architecture in Hanover, Germany and graduated in 1927. It was 1930 when he returned back to Greece. By 1943 (during the occupation of Greece by Nazi Germany), Ioannis Despotopoulos became Professor at the School of Architecture at the N.T.U.A..In 1946, he was discharged from his position at the university and he moved to Sweden for a period between the years 1947 and 1961. During his stay in Sweden, he worked as an architect and also taught at the Polytechnic Institutes of Stockholm and Goeteborg. He returned back to Greece in 1961 and appointed immediately as a professor at the N.T.U.A. until 1968 when He retired. He died in 1992.

Major Work

• Church of the Magaziotissa on Chios;

• Municipal baths of Chios;

• Sotiria Sanatorium in Athens;

• Tripoli Sanatorium;

• Hospital at Asvestohori;

• Chios Movie Theatre;

• School Complex of the Academia Platonos;

• Athens Conservatory.