James Speyer

James Speyer’s housing complex on the island of Hydra, with its very distinctive local characteristics, often seems to be an oddity, a “non-work,” in the greater context of international architecture. On the contrary, I believe that the innovative elements we find in this work are the result of Speyer’s interpretation of modern architectural principles thoughtfully applied to his surroundings. He carefully considered the traditional needs of the spatial organization of Hydra, and he sought to incorporate, in his own architectural language, the conventions that derive from the dominant masonry construction of the immediate environment of the island.

Adhering to the demands of the high quality and austere sensibility of the building tradition of Hydra, Speyer hired K. Pinotsis, an excellent local craftsman whom he deeply respected. Speyer fully trusted Pinotsis’ treatment of material and was confident that he could best transform Speyer’s simple principles of planning into a constructed work. Thus human care — Pinotsis’ sense of responsibility and sincerity— penetrated the constructions, all of which show the caress of a capable workman who inventively and consciously took part in the work’s creation.

Speyer guided and utilized this sensibility; he sometimes restrained it, other times set it free. He relied upon his own judgment whenever a problem arose, but always welcomed the versatile opinions of his crew. In this way, he made the most of the variations and adjustments that a building demands whenever it reaches the point of construction, when theory and plans are finally adjusted to the complexities of reality.