The American School of Classical Studies at Athens is pleased to announce a room in Loring Hall in memory of John Travlos, who was Architect of the School Excavations from 1940 to 1973. The room, situated on the second floor of the Annex, is a gift from William T. (Rob) Loomis, President of the School’s Trustees.

Shortly after Travlos received his Diploma in Architecture from the National Polytechneion in 1931, he joined the staff of the Greek-American excavations of the Pnyx. That led to his appointment as Assistant Architect of the Agora Excavations in 1935, from which he was rapidly promoted to Architect of the Agora Excavations (1937–1940), and then to Architect of (all of) the School Excavations (1940–1973). Over the course of his career, he produced important and influential drawings, reconstructions, and models of the Athenian Agora, Corinth, Eleusis, and many other sites, excavated by Greek as well as American archaeologists. As Homer Thompson observed, Travlos’ ability to make “sense out of ruinous monuments” was “sure and decisive,” and his “draftsmanship was marked by an almost uncanny skill in making the significant elements stand out,” resulting in drawings with “an austere beauty.”  As a scholar, he is best known for three books that continue to be widely consulted:  Πολεοδομικὴ ἐξέλιξις τῶν Ἀθηνῶν (1961), Pictorial Dictionary of Ancient Athens (1971), and Bildlexikon zur Topographie des antiken Attika (1988). As a colleague, he is remembered as a friend and skilled advisor of the American School and many of its scholars. In recognition of his many achievements, he was twice decorated by the Greek government, once by the City of Athens, and once by the Municipality of Eleusis. 

John Travlos, 1930s

In speaking of Travlos, Rob Loomis said, “Unfortunately, I only knew John Travlos from afar, but I was always impressed by the very high regard in which he was held by Eugene Vanderpool, who was the great teacher of all of us who were lucky to pass through the School in the 1950s and 1960s. I noticed that whenever Vanderpool was wrestling with a question about Athenian or Attic topography, the person to whom he turned most frequently was John Travlos: they would chat amiably and at length in Greek as they moved towards a solution. When students walk into the Travlos Room and examine its scrapbook and Angeliki Kokkou’s recent biography, I hope they will get a sense not only of his achievements as an architect and scholar, but also of his personality—his meticulous attention to detail and his imagination—and that they will be inspired to make their own contributions to our knowledge of Greece.”

Emeritus Director of the Agora Excavations John McK. Camp II comments that “Travlos was a fine draftsman and a great and loyal friend to the School. Because he did not work for the Ministry or the University, he was spared the petty feuds that often erupt in such institutions, and since he made dozens of drawings for colleagues at sites excavated all over Greece, almost everyone was beholden to him. If he had any detractors, I am unaware of them. Jim McCredie used to say that, when he was Director of the School, he would never dream of going to a high ministry office without Travlos by his side: he created a collegial atmosphere wherever he went.  A gentle, kind, and productive scholar. We were lucky to have him.”

John Travlos with Eugene Vanderpool, 1950s

Emeritus Director of the Corinth Excavations Charles K. Williams II recalls that “Years ago when I set about designing a new excavation house for Corinth, I got tremendously discouraged by my solution—much too much a modernist design that looked like a poor copy of works by Philip Johnson. As I wrestled with the problem, John Travlos happened to walk into the old dig house and started talking to me about architectural design. The resulting design, a more practical solution that avoids the boiling heat and freezing gales pounding against a modern glass façade, owes much to my discussion with him. As I learned from that experience, time spent talking with John Travlos always turned out to be tremendously valuable.”   

John Travlos at the Athenian Agora, 1960s

John K. Papadopoulos, the current Director of the Agora Excavations and Professor of Archaeology and Classics at UCLA, observes that “Behind the consummate architect, draftsman, model-maker, and archaeologist that was John Travlos was a person who could combine theory and practice as if there were no distinction between the two. He not only drew the plans for the reconstruction of the Stoa of Attalos, he built the restored monument, together with George Biris, who was the consulting engineer, and under the supervision of another great architect, Anastasios Orlandos, representing the Greek Ministry of Culture. Travlos was also that rare type of scholar who had the ability to see both the big picture and the nuances that inspire our understanding of the past. A good example of the former are his many publications, still widely consulted today. As for the nuances, one of my favorites was a throwaway line in one of his books. Standing on the belvedere on the Kolonos Agoraios near the Hephaisteion, Travlos imagined that it must have been from this very spot that Pheidias stood watching the Panathenaic procession, and it was this that inspired the great sculptor to conceive of the Parthenon frieze.”

To learn more about how to name a space in Loring Hall, please contact Andrew Federico, Stewardship and Events Manager, at afederico@ascsa.org or 609-454-6810. Naming opportunities for a variety of spaces are still available. Donors can choose from a wide range of gift levels to name a room or area in honor of themselves, an American School scholar, or a family member, friend, or group.

Please click the links below to view the nameable spaces and options that remain:

Loring Hall Naming Opportunities