The archive of Athens notary Dimitrios G. Vouzikis, 1886-1919

 The career of Dimitrios G. Vouzikis spanned a period of 33 years, from September 1886 to 1919. His first notarial deed was a power of attorney (POA) authorisation, drawn up on 2 September 1886. By the end of December of the same year, he had drawn up almost 280 notarial deeds and averaged just over 1,000 annually over the next years, a number that went down to about 900 per annum after the turn of the century (it is likely that the increasing number of notaries in the capital affected the size of Vouzikis’ clientele). As a result, Vouzikis’ archive contains approximately 31,000 notarial deeds, although the répertoire is, sadly, lost.

Over the course of those three decades, Vouzikis moved his office to four different locations, all within the capital’s commercial centre. He started out on Evripidou Street, “in the residence of Elpida, widow of A. Helmis”. Two years later, he relocated his office to Praxitelous Street, on Ieros Lohos Square, to premises belonging to G. Papadopoulos. Around the end of the century, in 1896, the office was again relocated to a property in the same building as G. Botasis’ residence, on Sofokleous Street. Finally, two years before retiring, he relocated the office again, this time to Aristeidou Street, to a building belonging to the heirs of Mihalis S. Patousas, one of his most loyal clients. These streets, all within a couple of blocks from each other, form a ‘U’ shape and are in close proximity to the market, a number of banks (Εθνική, Πιστωτική Βιομηχανική) and several important state agency buildings (Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Shipping,  Court of Audit, Athens Stock Exchange, Court of First Instance, Court of Cassation, Post Office). Tellingly, his clientele comprised individuals from all around the Municipality of Athens.

The deeds indexed from the notary's archive are:

Type of deed	1886	1887	1888	1889	1890	1891	1905	1906	1907	1908	1909	Various Years	Total
Lease of store	13	24	32	54	47	47	34	66	36	36	25	3	417
Lease of house	8	46	49	62	68	60	92	98	69	83	87	0	722
Lease of field / garden / vineyard	4	17	30	26	18	14	20	20	8	12	11	1	181
Lease of stable / paddock / quarry	0	2	2	3	6	10	9	3	9	2	6	0	52
Lease of movable property	0	7	16	10	14	4	6	11	5	1	5	1	80
Sublease of store	2	4	5	14	9	5	6	12	8	2	1	0	68
Sublease of house	0	3	3	2	1	1	4	1	1	0	0	0	16
Lease Termination	0	5	2	7	4	2	27	0	0	0	4	0	51
Sale of house	0	8	19	21	20	9	50	18	9	11	8	15	188
Sale of plot	0	18	23	15	17	20	23	41	42	48	33	33	313
Sale of field / garden / vineyard	0	16	31	28	27	8	7	19	15	8	25	58	242
Sale of movable property	0	12	22	22	18	6	7	11	7	0	17	1	123
Dowery	0	8	15	9	11	19	7	8	11	7	7	9	111
Will	0	0	0	2	3	2	1	3	3	0	4	0	18
Inventory	0	1	3	5	0	0	4	1	2	3	0	0	19
Service Staff	0	3	2	7	5	4	0	0	0	1	3	0	25
Recruitment	0	0	2	6	3	2	2	0	0	2	3	1	21
Adoption	0	0	2	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9
Other	0	1	9	14	13	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	45
Total	27	175	267	312	286	221	299	312	225	216	239	122	2701