Büyükada Greek Orphanage Architectural Features and Periodic Changes

Built between 1898 and 1899 by the French company Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grand

Express Européens (International Sleeping Wagons and the Great European Express Enterprise) as a hotel on

Büyükada İsa (Hristo) Hill, the building was moved to the Balıklı Greek Orphanage in Yedikule in 1902 and

started to serve as an orphanage building. The architect of the hotel, named 'Prinkipo Palas', inspired by the

'Prince Island', which is the first name of Büyükada, is Alexandre Vallaury of French origin. The building, which

served as an orphanage from 1902 to 1960, has been standing empty (dysfunctional) for approximately 58 years.

The building, which was used as a shelter for Greek orphans when the orphanage function was active, is also

known as the "Red Palace" as well as being the largest wooden building in the Europe. It also served at Kuleli

Military High School during the First World War. The building, which contains information about the cultural

and architectural identity of the period in which it was built, still sees the quality of a resource today. For this

reason, it is necessary to carry out all the necessary studies to document the material, construction techniques,

historical construction processes of the building, especially the structural system, and to transfer it to future

generations by preserving it. The transformation of the orphanage, which was a home for orphaned Greek

children in Istanbul, from its first construction in 1898 (with hotel function) to the present day, in its function

and architectural space, has been discussed with pre-restoration and post-restoration studies in different

periods, and a critique of the present state of the building has been presented. The proposal to re-function as an

effective way of keeping this building, which was left to disappear without a function, was put forward within the

scope of the study. In the study, qualitative data analysis method was used, which includes analysis of the

building as a result of on-site observation in addition to scanning the national and international literature, old

and new news, interviews, travel writings and notes about the building. As a result of the data obtained, the refunctioning proposal of the region and the building was presented as a study output. This analysis process and

the outcome will contribute to the historical classification of the orphanage's transformation process, reveal the

criticism and function proposal brought to the current state of the building, and form a basis for further studies

on the subject.

Keywords: Büyükada Greek Orphanage, Prinkipo Palace, architectural transformation, refunctioning