History
In fact " Leonidas " is the most " honest " of the three properties. The reason being that most of materials used, wood and stones, belonged to the original House and the ones added originated from Old Houses which had been put down in deserted Villages scattered in the region of Elounda.
The Sofa Area, Master Bedroom and Balcony have been added to meet the modem needs, but Door Handles, Lamps, Staircase, Bath Tabs and some of the wood are all original pieces as well as the Basins in both Kitchens, with best feature being the Fireplace Typical in Cretan Houses of the last century.
The original House was bought in 1905 by Sfirakis family from a rich Turkish Landowner who owned it for the last 10 years. We assume therefore the House was built in 1895. The sale, although completed, only some of the money were given to the Turk as he fled back to Turkey in a hurry, due to the exchange of population arranged by the two Countries and Turks leaving in Greece departed for Turkey and Greeks leaving in Asia Minor returned to the fatherland.
During the German occupations in 1940 the House was seized by the Italians, who ruled the region Agios Nikolaos / Elounda and when they left the house became uninhabited as partly destroyed. The family restored the House and lived in it for a while.
In 1985 they sold the House to Margarita Elliot, an American citizen, working at the American Embassy of Athens holding the title of the Consul and later on after she resigned from her post and used it as annex to Margarita, the House next door.
She sold the House in 1994 to its present owners " The Traditional Homes of Crete " and the company is renting the House from now on, having made extensive preservation works at the Terrace, constructing Kitchen on it, wood and stone repairs all over the House having respected the Traditional style and history of the property and region.