The Old Excavation House

The photograph below, taken in June of 1939, illustrates the extent of the Agora Excavations during the first eight years. The so-called Old Excavation House, located at Asteroskopeiou St. 25, was actually a group of houses that formed a complex of temporary storerooms and workspace for the early excavations (highlighted in yellow). All of the antiquities that had been found to date were stored in these buildings. Planning for the construction of a museum to properly display the important pieces and to house the enormous quantity of excavated material had already begun by 1939, but all work at the excavation was suspended in the spring of 1940 due to the start of World War II.

View from the Observatory looking east, showing the extent of excavations in June 1939. The Old Excavation House complex is highlighted in yellow.

Pottery storage that adjoined the records office where Lucy Talcott sits at her desk, 1937

The records office, 1937

Pottery mending room, 1937

Pot-menders at work, 1937

Alison Frantz in the photographic studio, 1937

John Travlos working in the architect’s office, 1937