Two of Tirana’s old Ottoman villas on “Tefta Tashko Koço” street have been demolished.
One of the villas was a first category Cultural Monument since 1987, per the National Institute of Cultural Heritage.
With their demolition, no houses from the Ottoman era remain in Tirana.
Sources told Exit that the land will be used for the construction of an apartment building, although no informative signs have been placed in location.
The two villas were some of the most typical examples of traditional Tirana houses, standing on one of the city’s well-known streets and inhabited historically by old Tirana families.
According to the educational page The Albanian House one of the villas is owned by the Toptani family, one of Tirana’s most famous old families.
Today it is believed to be divided between two families, because of its two main entrances and the fact that the ground floor of one half of the house has gone through some reconstructions and changes from its original condition.
Dozens of other villas that used to dot the alleys of Tirana have been demolished to make space for the construction of multiple-storey apartment buildings.
A similar transformation of the urban landscape is taking place near Elbasan street and the Bllok area.
Many of these villas, built in the first half of the twentieth century, are the last remaining material evidence of Tirana’s urban history.
