Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria House May Be Demolished
http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2014/01/lawrence-durrells-…
BY NATE PEDERSEN ON JANUARY 2, 2014 1:19 AM
Villa Dubron - the Alexandria residence of British expatriate author
Lawrence Durrell - may soon be demolished to make room for a high-rise
apartment complex. Durrell's life at the Villa between 1942 and 1945
inspired his most famous work, The Alexandria Quartet.
Durrell moved to Alexandria in 1942, fleeing Nazi-occupied Greece. At the
time, Alexandria was a cultural mecca, famous for its mix of nationalities,
religions, and artists. Durrell rented the top floor of Villa Dubron from
its owner, the Jewish architect Aldo Ambron. Durrell and his second wife -
herself an Alexandrian and the inspiration for the heroine of The
Alexandria Quartet - lived there for three years before returning to
Britain at the conclusion of WWII. While in residence, Durrell wrote
Prospero's Cell.
Reflecting on his time in Alexandria, Durrell later wrote Justine, the
first volume in The Alexandria Quartet, which was published in 1957.
Balthazar and Mountolive both followed in 1958, while the fourth and final
volume, Clea, was published in 1960.
The Ambron family, meanwhile, sold the villa to a local developer and
businessman in 1966. The developer has since established two apartment
complexes in the former gardens of the villa. While the house is
theoretically protected by a 2006 preservation law that is thinly enforced,
the developer plans to demolish the house anyway unless a conservator can
quickly raise enough money to buy it.
This preservation issue is not a new problem in Alexandria, which has seen
other historic buildings go illegally under the bulldozer in recent years.
A recent movement called Save Alex hopes to preserve as much of
Alexandria's fin-de-siècle heyday as possible.
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June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbooks(a)gmail.com
www.kalamosbooks.com
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