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istanbul
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For years, the Botter Apartments were largely forgotten. On Istiklal Street (Istanbul’s busiest pedestrian street), vintage red trams rumbled past music stores, cafes, and boutiques, but few people looked up. Above the storefronts, the graceful Art Nouveau facades that were once at the forefront of a redefining city lay silently decaying.
This building was more than just a decorative facade. Commissioned by Sultan Abdulhamid II, designed by Italian architect Raimondo D’Aronco, and built for the Sultan’s Dutch tailor Jan Botter, it was one of the structures that introduced Istanbul to modern European architecture and shaped the aesthetics of its more affluent streets.
But over the next century, the apartment changed hands many times, was neglected, and slowly disappeared from view.
Botter Apartment, or Casa Botter, is back. Recent restorations have brought it back into the street and into public life, reopening it as a cultural center and shared workspace. This is a reminder to both locals and tourists that far above the hustle and bustle of the crowds, Istanbul still has treasures waiting to be discovered.
Sultan Abdulhamid II, who oversaw parts of the late Ottoman Empire from 1876 to 1909, was a man of contradictions. Politically, he is remembered for his authoritarian rule, but privately he was fascinated by European art, music, and design. He was a fan of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, liked opera and ballet, and employed foreign professionals at his court.
sultan, tailor, architect
Among these experts was Jean Botter, the Sultan’s official tailor. While Abdulhamid sourced his suits from Paris, Botter performed precise fittings and alterations in Istanbul. In 1900, the Sultan gifted him land in Pera, Istanbul’s most cosmopolitan and European-friendly district, and built a building that was both a mansion and a fashion house.
To make that happen, Abdulhamid turned to the chief palace architect, Italian Raimondo D’Aronco. Completed in 1901, Botter Apartment was Istanbul’s first Art Nouveau building.
Bold elegance was evident, with whiplash curves, delicate floral motifs, and carved Medusa head details. The building was also technologically pioneering. It is Turkey’s first steel-framed apartment complex, and perhaps the second in the country to have an elevator after the Pera Palace Hotel, making it a towering symbol of modernity on Istanbul’s crowded streets.
“The story of the Botter Apartment is a summary of the history of Istanbul’s modernization,” says journalist Emra Temizkan. “At the time, it was a space representative of the Western lifestyle, confined to the palace. Today, its opening to the public as a cultural center is very similar to the early republican idea of democratizing culture and the arts.”
Botter’s atelier on the ground floor quickly became the center of Pera’s social life, hosting fashion shows and fittings for Istanbul’s elite. The Botter family lived on the upper floor. Merve Gedik, architect and project manager for Istanbul Metropolitan Heritage, said Botter’s connection with architect Daronko further enhanced the building’s reputation. “It was a building born of art and design.”
However, the building’s glory did not last long. After the Balkan Wars and World War I, Pella’s cosmopolitan lifestyle declined. The Botters sold their apartment in 1917 and moved to Paris. Over the decades, as Turkey emerged as a modern republic, the building was abandoned and its grand facade deteriorated.
“The building was in a very dilapidated state,” Gedik recalls. “There was no glass in the windows, the roof was in very poor condition, and the wooden floors were rotting from water damage. It was on the verge of collapsing.”
Its fortunes changed in 2021 when the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality embarked on a careful restoration.
Gedick said the philosophy was minimal intervention, preserving as much of the original texture and detail as possible. Layers of paint and plaster were removed to reveal the building’s original color. The metalwork was cleaned and preserved rather than replaced, leaving visible traces of a century of weathering.
But the most significant change was the transition of buildings from private status symbols to public cultural beacons.
When the lower floors reopened as the Casa Botter Art and Design Center in April 2023, the building found itself in unexpected demand. Initially, the upper floors were planned to be used as the city hall, but the visitors had other ideas.
“People showed so much interest during the opening week that we couldn’t use it as an office,” Gedik says. “Structures began to spontaneously acquire new functions.” Students, remote workers, and creatives began using the bright, open rooms as collaborative workspaces and shared office spaces.
“This is very satisfying because it shows that once an area is exposed to the public, it organically acquires its own usage habits. We didn’t force it.”
Visitors to Casa Botter should not miss the oval elevator at the heart of the building. This is a visual reminder of its status as a pioneer in both architecture and technology. Its shaft is surrounded by decorative ironwork and fits perfectly into the curves of the building’s elegant main staircase.
It should also be understood that it follows Istanbul’s living story, from the Ottoman era’s enthusiasm for European style to modern-day Turkey’s reclaiming of its heritage to its people.
The restoration of the building has breathed new life into the Pella neighborhood. The reborn building is a testament to a time when the Ottoman Empire began to establish a new identity, fusing tradition and modernity, and its sense of style remains in modern-day Istanbul. This era also set the stage for Turkey’s First National Architecture Movement, as domestic architects reacted to imported influences, led by figures such as Mimar Kemareddin and Vedat Tek.
And the Botter Apartment is just one entry point into this broader architectural story. Walking between Tunel and Taksim districts, visitors can encounter a surprising mix of architecture that reflects Istanbul’s reception of European design during the late Ottoman period.
A subtle Art Nouveau style flourishes here, and Musir Apartment, or Misr Apartmani, is one of Istanbul’s earliest reinforced concrete buildings.
Nearby Lavouna 1906 Suites is another prime example of Art Nouveau, and its designer and interior architect is still immortalized in the carved stone of its façade.
Cicek Passage (Road of Flowers) has neo-Renaissance details that recall its origins as a luxury apartment complex, while Gran Pella and Azarian Apartments boast neoclassical and neo-baroque facades built for the city’s elite at the turn of the century.
Casa Botter Art and Design Center is open to the public in Istiklal Qaddesi.
