Cycladic Architecture — why white and blue?

The white-blue houses of the Cyclades — Santorini, Mykonos, Paros — have become the epitome of Greece. But why do they look like this?

The answer is pragmatic, not aesthetic:

• White walls: The houses were whitewashed with lime (Asvesti) — a cheap, locally available material that also acts as a disinfectant. During the cholera and plague epidemics of the 19th/20th centuries, whitewashing was even legally mandated. The white color also reflects the sun and keeps the houses cooler.
• Blue accents: Blue was the cheapest available color — a mixture of lime and Loulaki (copper sulfate or laundry blue), which fishermen already used to paint their boats. Doors, shutters, and domes were painted blue because it was simply the most affordable.
• Cubic form: The cube-shaped houses with flat roofs are a response to wind (Meltemi) and earthquakes — low, compact, aerodynamic. The thick stone walls insulate against heat and cold.

From the 1970s, the government made the white-blue law: On the Cyclades, houses can only be built in traditional colors and forms. Irony of history: What began as poverty architecture became Greece's most expensive real estate market.

On other islands, the architecture looks completely different: Corfu has Venetian pastel facades, Thessaloniki Ottoman wooden houses, the Mani somber residential towers, and the Zagorochoria in Epirus are built from gray stone, without a drop of color.