THE HISTORY OF CIHANGIR PALAS APARTMENT BUILDING

Cihangir Palas Apartment Building is located in İstanbul, Beyoğulu, Cihangir district, in Soğancı Street.Built at the end of 1800s, it is a well constructed building of its era, with its brick masonry walls and arch floor

Records until the year 1921, document the name of the building as “Fotiyadis Apartment”. It is the very same building the Greek architect Perikli Fotiyadis lived in, the architect of many buildings in Istanbul at that era, and the building’s name may very well indicate that he is also the architect of it! The Embassy of Austria-Hungary’s Secretary General Count Ferdinand Brandis was also among those living in the building in the same period.

Apparently the ownership changed hands, as all records from the year 1921 -including Pervetich Map- show the name of the building as Papadopoulos Apartment. All records from 1942 and onwards document it as Cihangir Palas building. The building has undergone an evolution parallel to the general fate of Beyoğlu, as the cosmopolitanism of its first residents had fully evolved in the 1950s and a Muslim and Turkish identity emerged.

Purchased by the Bulgurlu family in 1970s, the building left its mark in its own period as ‘BİLSAK’ with the initiative of Mustafa Kemal Ağaoğlu, who rented the building in the 1980s, and became a symbol place for ‘alternative theater and art’. Aside from the ground floor bar and the restaurant in its 5th floor, all floors were used as multipurpose Arts and Culture Workshops. The building is still remembered to this day as ‘Bilsak’ by the Cihangir District’s and 1980s’ intellectual class!

The Cihangir Palas apartment building today houses Minimuzikhol in the ground floor, Rehberler Derneği (Guide Association) in the 1st floor, Duvar Mimarlık ve Hestia Ofisi (Wall Architecture and Hestia Office) in the 2nd floor, CIP Tourism Agency in the 3rd floor, and the 5. Kat Lokantası (5th Floor Restaurant) in the 4th and 5th floor. January 2015.