Double entry doors lend color to the wall built with stones from the old house that once stood on this spot.

A welcoming corner in the garden, defined by fragrant jasmine, beautiful stone niches and a pink and gray marble fountain.

The Mermaid and the Sailor, a marble “compass rose” designed by the owner for her seafaring husband and set into the stone floor of the terrace above.

The upstairs terrace with its traditional wood and cane pergola. In a niche, a Persian tile and below that, a table featuring antique Turkish tiles.

A comfortable spot on the terrace overlooking the beautiful village of Naoussa and the sea.

In the colorful living room, a mix of objects from traditional village life and multi-cultural reminders of Greece’s rich and varied past. On the wall, prints depicting figures from 19th century Greece.

A corner of the living room leading to the sunny, traditional-style kitchen; today as in days past, the heart of the home.

An antique plate rack filled with olive-adorned tableware by Studio Yria near the village of Kostos.

A collection of old coffee trays and antique wooden furniture give the kitchen its traditional feel.

A flight of stairs leading down to a study and the bedrooms. Faded doors found weathering in a field are now features of the wardrobe built beneath the stairs.

A “found” blue door with its more recent wooden surround leads to the guest room. The portrait of the fisherman was painted by the owner in Samos in 1970.

The guest room’s green and pink cupboard doors were once shutters of a house on the Bosphorus and the vintage hand-crafted cushion covers came from the National Welfare Organization.

The guest shower’s green and yellow tiles are from Tunisia while the upstairs bathroom features traditional Turkish blue and turquoise tiles decorated in the Iznik style.

A House with a Soul

Text: Anne Moses Benett || Photos: Vaggelis Fragkakis

Not far from the iconic stone bridge of Naoussa lies the house of an American painter, writer and designer and her seafaring husband, a retired British naval officer.


If houses had souls
– and arguably they do – this house would be an old soul. Although relatively young in age, rooted a mere twenty-three years ago in an ancient land, its soul is old, possessing that intangible suggestion of agelessness, a certain wisdom and the air of having lived long and deeply in the world.

The little stone house that once stood on the same spot may have fallen into ruin; it may have ceded its place to another, but it is not gone. Its stones now form the wall surrounding its replacement, infused as they are with the indelible stories of families that once lived within its walls.

So, a new house takes the place of an old house and new stories are added to ones that came before. Perched on its hill, this young house with the old soul overlooks a vibrant village and the everlasting sea, now part of its own story and its endless charm.