Historic Sites Development

Istanbul, Türkiye

Many of Istanbul's 19th-and-20th century kiosks and pavilions in the royal parks along the Bosphorus were in bad condition and the remaining old residential districts of the city were in disrepair and under threat of demolition. In 1974 the Touring and Automobile Association began its work in the residential district near the Kariye Museum, repairing and painting the façades of 12 houses, replacing the cobbled streets and restoring the local fountain. In 1979 the Association leased from the city certain buildings and parks to restore, furnish and put to profitable use. The Malta pavilion in Yildiz Park was the first of these restorations to be completed. A fine Baroque building, built in the second half of the 19th-century, it is designed for re-use as a luxurious restaurant, conference centre and setting for opulent functions. The Çadir Pavilion of the same period, set in a beautifully landscaped part of the park, with a splendid view of the Bosphorus, has been re-cycled as a coffee house. Emirgan Park, near Yildiz, is the setting of three other distinguished pavilions of the period, known as the white, the pink and the yellow. The first is now a concert hall and restaurant; the second, restored as a typical Bosphorus house with Ottoman furnishings and woodwork, is now a museum; the third has been converted into a tea room and snack bar. Among other successful projects is the conversion of an early 20th-century Art Nouveau palace at Çubuklu to a small and elegant hotel.

Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture