Istanbul 4th Vakıf Han

History

The building was designed in 1911 by architect Kemaleddin Bey (1870-1927), director of Construction and Restoration Department at the Ottoman Ministry of Foundations (Ottoman Turkish: Evkaf Nezareti‎). It is styled in First Turkish National architecture, also called Ottoman Revivalism. The building was constructed between 1916 and 1926 in the place of "Hamidiye Külliyesi", the religious buildings complex 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 20th century. The completion of the construction took years due to the participation of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkan Wars and World War I.

During the occupation of Istanbul by the Allies following World War I, French troops, which were stationed in the old city zone, used the at that time incomplete building from 1920 to 1923 as barracks, calling it "Caserne Victor".

In the latest years of the 20th century, the office building housed the Istanbul Stock Exchange and bankers for a long time.

Architecture

The building, constructed with a steel skeleton frame, has seven floors including the basement. It is on the entrance side in Hamidiye Cad. 78.70 m (258.2 ft) long, and rises 27.21 m (89.3 ft) high while its max. width is 32.43 m (106.4 ft). It has an atrium with the dimensions 35.32 m × 5.20 m (115.9 ft × 17.1 ft). The facades in the west, south and east direction are covered by cut stone and marble while the backside in the north is in stucco applied bricks.

The building, flanked by two turrets, originally has two symmetrically placed entrances in between 24 shops with 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 30 m (98 ft) 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 unusual in other Ottoman business buildings.

Redevelopment

In 2000, the building was emptied with the intension 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 that 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 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 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.