Tophane Kasrı (Pavillion)

Tophane Kasrı, located in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, was built upon the order of Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamit I in 1852. It was designed in 1841 by the English architect William James Smith, who came to Istanbul to build the British Embassy.

The Tophane Kasri, which was built in 1849 and completed between 1851-1852, was used on the basis that the Sultans met the military visits in Tophane or foreign bureaucrats who came to the city. One of the most important features of this pavilion is that The International Straits Commission after the Lausanne Treaty, signed after World War II, hold their meeting here.

Tophane Kasrı exhibits a different structural style from the other works of its architect. It has a rectangular plan and is built in two storys. Following the trend of the period, fire-resistant materials were preferred instead of wood. All the windows of Pavillion are of a round-arched structure. As one of the signs of the transition from Ottoman architecture to European architecture, the baroque decorations used in the pavilion also attract attention.

During the widening of the streets in the city, on the west side of the Pavilion Top Arabacıları Barracks were demolished, the present-day port buildings were built to the East, and as a result, the connection with the sea was cut off. This pavilion, which was used as a hostel for Disabled Veterans for some time, is now serving at the Mimar Sinan University.