A CENTURY OF SOLITUDE COMES TO AN END: MAHMUT MUHTAR PASHA MANSION IN MODA
The Mahmut Muhtar Pasha Mansion is located in Istanbul’s Kadıköy District, in the Moda neighborhood, Caferağa Mahallesi, on Hacı İzzet Street, parcel 17 of block 1288, map section 95. It is believed that the mansion was commissioned by a Levantine family and designed by an Italian architect. Before the Mahmut Muhtar Pasha family, the property was known to have been used by Englishman Alfred Frederic James Barker, whose family resided there for approximately ten years until the great earthquake of 1894. Following the earthquake, the family left Turkey, leading to the assumption that the mansion was built before 1884.
After the Barkers, the mansion was purchased in 1897 from Dimitri Velademi, a Greek-origin owner, by Princess Nimetullah, daughter of Khedive Ismail Pasha of Egypt and wife of Mahmut Muhtar Pasha. From 1897 to 1929, the property became known as the Mahmut Muhtar Pasha Mansion and served as the family’s residence. It remained in the family’s possession until 1956, when it was expropriated for 1.5 million lira and transferred to the Ministry of National Education. In 1957, it officially reopened as Kadıköy Girls’ High School.
Between 1960 and 1970, the auxiliary buildings within the garden were demolished and replaced with new school facilities, continuing the institution’s function as Kadıköy Girls’ High School. The mansion sits within a large garden, close to the southern boundary wall of the property, along with additional school buildings. The grounds are bordered by Moda Avenue to the east, the Marmara Sea to the west, Belkıs Dilligil Street to the south, and Hacı İzzet Efendi Street to the north. The garden is enclosed by masonry walls of varying heights and thicknesses.
The building’s façade is designed in a neoclassical style, while the interior decorations reflect a blend of Rococo and Baroque influences. In the building’s restitution periodization, the first period covers the time from the mansion’s construction until the Mahmut Muhtar Pasha family took residence in 1894; the second period spans from 1894 to 1956 during the family’s ownership; and the third period begins in 1957, when it started functioning as an educational institution, continuing to the present day.
As ALBA İnşaat, our restoration work, which began in 2022, is currently ongoing.