Tayyare Apartments Restoration

The district of Laleli is generally understood to derive its name from the Laleli Fountain, a 16th-century structure said to have stood in the area and known for its tulip motifs; the name later spread to the surrounding neighborhood through the mosque commissioned by Sultan Mustafa III between 1759 and 1763 and the urban fabric that developed around it. After the devastating fire of 31 May 1918, which left thousands of families homeless in the Cibali and Fatih quarters, Architect Kemaleddin designed and built the Harikzedegan Apartments between 1918 and 1922 to provide permanent housing for fire victims. Reinterpreting traditional Turkish domestic architecture at the scale of social housing, the complex was donated to the Tayyare Society after the proclamation of the Republic and came to be known as the Tayyare Apartments, becoming one of the landmark works of the First National Architectural Movement.

Restoration of the Tayyare Apartments between Beyazıt and Aksaray for their conversion into the five-star Ramada Hotel. The building, which had received insufficient care until 1985, underwent a comprehensive restoration.