The exact date of the start of the processing and sale of tobacco in the city of Kavala cannot unfortunately be clearly determined. The first indications point to around 1850, when the city escaped from the narrow urban limits of the wall of the Panagia Peninsula, to spread to its current extent.
The beginning of Greek industry begins in 1830 - with the establishment of the autonomous state of Greece - and declines in the 1950s, when the phenomenon of Deindustrialization is observed (Hatziiosif, 1993). There are many Greek cities that turn to industrial production: Livadia with the production of cotton and the use of water energy, Athens with the Gazi factory, the industries of Syros, the production and exploitation of tobacco leaves in Drama, Volos, Thessaloniki, Xanthi and Kavala.
Remains of the industrial activity are the Tobacco warehouses. In every city that dealt with the tobacco trade, the presence of Tobacco Warehouses is particularly strong. However, in the city of Kavala, they occupy a very important part of the built urban environment. Indicatively, the bibliographic references point to the presence of approximately 160 Tobacco Warehouses in the city, of which unfortunately only 60 still exist - and most of them in poor condition due to lack of maintenance.
The presence of the first Tobacco Warehouses begins with the activity of the Greeks as well as the Ottomans in the Tobacco trade. Gradually, the city turns into a center of tobacco production and export, resulting in the reconstruction of more and more similar buildings. Around 1850, the Allatini brothers began their activity in Tobacco Production. In 1866, the first quarter outside the walls, that of Agios Ioannis, was built. The first Tobacco Warehouses appear already after 1864 in the oldest view of the new city (Aggeloudi-Zarkadas, 1997).
The position of the Tobacco Warehouses within the urban fabric is determined by two factors:
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Their position in relation to other buildings in the city,
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Their position as individual buildings or building complexes in contact.
Tobacco warehouses are initially divided by their time of construction into:
Older Tobacco Warehouses (with construction period from 1860 to 1930)
Newer Tobacco Warehouses (1930-1950)
Modern Tobacco Warehouses (1950 to about 1970).