THE MISIR ("EGYPTIAN") APARTMENTS
The Mısır Apartments is an edifice located right next to the Yapı Kredi building – which itself used to be the site of a historic han (inn) holding an important place in the city’s history with its exquisite architecture – after Galatasaray Square. Its architectural features considered a blend of European modernism and arabesque have also been defined as art nouveau by certain art historians. Mısır Apartment is one of Istanbul’s first reinforced concrete buildings.
It was constructed by Abbas Halim Pasha of Egypt, son of the Khedive of Egypt Abdulhalim Pasha, as a winter mansion on the premises of the demolished Trocadero Theater. Prince Abbas Halim Pasha was educated in Switzerland, and had occupied important bureaucratic positions such as the Governor of Bursa and the Minister of Public Works. The Mısır Apartment building, where the pasha – a prominent figure in Istanbul’s public life – spent winter months with his family, was among his highly valuable possessions along with the mansion and estate he owned in Yakacık, which was later to be endowed for the care of orphaned children by his daughter Princess Zeynep Halim. This apartment building is also where Abbas Halim Pasha stayed upon his return to Istanbul after two years of exile in Malta, where he was sent by the British under arrest in 1918. Its construction, started in 1905, was completed in four and half years – considered a short amount of time for its period. When finished, it was comprised of six floors including the shops at the entrance level. The sixth floor was designated as a laundry area and included a terrace. French specialists drew up the static stability plans of the building designed by architect Hovsep Aznavur, and the materials used were imported from France.
This building was later divided up into apartments and apportioned among the heirs of the Khedive (Hidiv) family. In 1940 it changed ownership and was passed on to Hayri İpar, known as contractor and ‘king of sugar’. İpar added two more floors to the six-storey building. Changing owners yet again in 2000, the building was restored over five years.
Having hosted many an illustrious figure over the course of its history, Mehmet Akif Ersoy, the poet who wrote Turkey’s National Anthem (“İstiklal Marşı”) may be mentioned among the Apartment’s most famous guests. Upon returning from Egypt in 1936, he settled into the Mısır (“Egyptian”) Apartments, and lived his last six months as well as died here. Another figure who lived and died in this apartment building was famous writer and poet Mithat Cemal Kuntay. Ataturk’s dentist Sami Gunzberg also had his clinic here, and Ataturk would therefore come to this building for treatments. The ateliers of tailor Mualla Hanım and her daughter Canan Yaka, known for dressing artists, were located in the Mısır Apartments as well. Today, in addition to art galleries and private flats, the building also houses one of Istanbul’s famous restaurants, 360, on its terrace.