The Istanbul 4th Vakıf Han is a historical large office building located in the

Sirkeci Sirkeci () is a neighborhood in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey. The neighborhood borders to the north the mouth of the Golden Horn, to the west the neighborhood of Bahçekapı, to the east the Topkapı Palace ...

neighbourhood of the Eminönü quarter within the Fatih district of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is owned by the Foundations Administration ( tr, Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü). Currently, it is used as a five star hotel of the World Park Hotel chain named Legacy Ottoman.

History

The building was designed in 1911 by architect Kemaleddin Bey (1870–1927), director of the Construction and Restoration Department at the Ottoman Ministry of Foundations (

Ottoman Turkish Ottoman Turkish ( ota, لِسانِ عُثمانى, Lisân-ı Osmânî, ; tr, Osmanlı Türkçesi) was the standardized register of the Turkish language used by the citizens of the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed exten ...

: ''Evkaf Nezareti''). It is styled in

First Turkish National architecture First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, also called Ottoman Revivalism. It was constructed between 1916 and 1926 in the place of "Hamidiye Külliyesi", the religious buildings complex which belonged to Sultan Abdul Hamid I (reigned 1774–1789). It was built to meet the high demand for office blocks at the area in the early years of the 20th century. The completion of the construction took many years due to the participation of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. During the occupation of Istanbul by the Allies following

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

troops, which were stationed in the old city zone, used the (at that time incomplete) building from 1920 to 1923 as

barracks Barracks are usually a group of long buildings built to house military personnel or laborers. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word "barraca" ("soldier's tent"), but today barracks are ...

, calling it ''Caserne Victor''. In the last decades of the 20th century, the building housed the Istanbul Stock Exchange, as well as the offices of bankers and financiers. In 1995 the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to its current building in the

İstinye İstinye is a neighbourhood in Istanbul, Turkey, on the European side of the city. It is located in the district of Sarıyer, between the neighbourhoods of Emirgan and Yeniköy, on the northwestern shore of the Bosporus strait. It is one of t ...

neighbourhood, near Maslak business district.

Architecture

The building, constructed with a steel skeleton frame, has seven floors including the basement. It is on the entrance side in Hamidiye Avenue long, and rises high while its maximum width is . It has an atrium with the dimensions . The facades in the west, south and east are covered by

cut stone Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

, while the rear facade in the north is covered by

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

applied bricks. The building, flanked by two turrets, originally had two symmetrically placed entrances in between 24 shops with a mezzanine. The entrances open up to both corners of a U-shaped passage. In the above four floors, there were a total of 148 office rooms of equal size for rent, 37 at each floor. At the end of the passage, two stairways and elevators enable to reach the upper floors. The distance between the two stairways is with respect to the fire precaution regulation of that time. There exists also a service stairway in the middle of the backside running from the ground floor to the mansard, which was unusual compared to other Ottoman business buildings of that period.

Redevelopment

In 2000, the building was emptied with the intention to be used as a court. After standing vacant for four years, the Istanbul 4th Vakıf Han was leased to the company Gap-San Eserler for a lease term of 25 years and monthly payment of 44,000 (approx. US$29,350 as of August 2006) for redevelopment and conversion into a five-star hotel. The restoration work, which lasted twelve months and cost 30 million (approx. US$20 million as of August 2006), was completed in 2006. After four years of development phase, the annual lease was increased to 148,000 (approx. US$94,300 as of 2009), and its value will be updated every four years. In order to place the hotel entrance with the reception area in a central position, the two original entrances were cancelled and the shop in the middle position was restructured as the main entrance. Beside arranging the mansard roof as a restaurant, no other significant changes were made in the historical building.

Legacy Ottoman Hotel

The Legacy Ottoman Hotel opened on July 2, 2006 as the only five-star hotel in Eminönü. The hotel consists of 153 luxury rooms and 19 suites in total.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Istanbul 4th Vakif Han First Turkish National architecture Office buildings completed in 1926 Office buildings in Turkey Fatih Hotels in Istanbul Redevelopment projects in Istanbul Hotels established in 2006 2006 establishments in Turkey Mimar Kemaleddin buildings