Athens is not a city that gives everything away at once. Look past the ancient landmarks and the traffic, and another version of the capital comes into focus, one shaped by post-war ambition, everyday modernism and lives layered gently over time. It is in this Athens that French-Greek design studio Stene Alexopoulos has reworked a 1950s penthouse apartment in Plaka, turning it into a space that feels lived-in, thoughtful and quietly assured.
The Athens apartment sits on the top floor of a mid-century residential building, just above the square of the Byzantine Church of Saint Catherine and a short walk from Tripodon Street, often cited as the oldest street in Europe still in use. At 75 square metres, it is compact but carefully handled. Its greatest luxury is the terrace, where the Acropolis appears close enough to feel like part of the neighbourhood rather than a monument observed from afar.
For founders Elena Alexopoulos and Jonathan Stene, this was never a blank-canvas project. The apartment once belonged to Elena’s grandmother, and that sense of inheritance shaped every decision. The original layout remains intact. Architectural details from the 1950s were kept not for sentimentality, but because they made sense. Rather than rewriting the space, the studio worked with what was already there.
Materials carry much of the narrative. Marble, stainless steel and solid wood, all familiar to mid-century Greek interiors, appear throughout without disguise. Colour arrives through veining, grain and wear rather than paint. Most of the furniture was designed by the studio and made locally, each piece calibrated to the apartment’s proportions. In the bathroom, a marble and stainless-steel basin reads as both fixture and focal point. Elsewhere, tables and storage sit low and grounded, designed to be used rather than admired from a distance.
The Athens apartment functions as both home and studio, and that dual role keeps things honest. Vintage pieces sit comfortably alongside bespoke designs. Works by Greek and French sculptors are positioned with light in mind, shifting subtly throughout the day. References are there if you look for them: antiquity through local stone, Greek craft traditions in details, and the clear thinking of post-war modernism holding it all together.
What makes the space work is its lack of performance. Despite its location and views, it never tries to impress. The terrace feels like a natural extension of the interior, not a stage. Indoors, nothing feels rushed or overly styled. The pleasure lies in proportion, in materials that will age well, and in decisions made slowly.
Founded in 2022 and based between Athens and Paris, Stene Alexopoulos approaches interiors as complete compositions, where architecture, furniture and objects are inseparable. This apartment feels like a distilled expression of that philosophy.
It also lands at a moment when Athens itself feels newly confident. With design-led hotel openings on the horizon, Riviera neighbourhoods gaining momentum, a food and drink scene that now rivals Europe’s most interesting capitals, and ferry ports that make island escapes easy, the city has quietly become one of the Mediterranean’s most appealing summer bases.
stenealexopoulos.com; @stene.alexopoulos. Photography by ©Ines Silva Sa
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