Şahkulu, Serdar-ı Ekrem Cd. No:29, Beyoğlu
From Yazıcı Konağı to Galata Mansion
The building of Galata Mansion was constructed in the early 1890s as "Yazıcı Konağı" (Habitation Yazıcı) on what was then called Yazıcı Street. The street owed its name to the lithographic printing houses that operated here in the 19th century; its present name honours the title of Ömer Lütfi Lattas Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army in the Crimean War: Serdar-ı Ekrem.
Designed under the influence of French architectural style, the building was one of Istanbul's early examples of the modern European apartment house. It hosted the first apartment-living experiences of an Ottoman middle class eager to leave behind the fire risks of timber mansions — a living witness to the passage from the traditional konak to the modern apartment.
On Serdar-ı Ekrem — home to Istanbul's tallest and grandest apartment buildings at the end of the 19th century — it shares the street with historic houses such as the Camondo, Zellich and Hacı Said. The Belgian banker family Helbig, who built the famous Doğan Apartment across the street, were also among the investors in Istanbul's first horse-drawn tram.
Carefully restored today, the building keeps this heritage alive with its bay windows and high-ceilinged rooms; Lattas Cafe Bistro on the ground floor takes its name from the surname of the pasha whose title named the street.
