Reuse of a Special House; Manor of Mizzi on Prince Island in Istanbul

ABSTRACT During the second half of the 19th century, Malta originated George Mizzi supported the construction of a unique middle age caste like palazzio on the biggest Prince island of Istanbul for his name, which has no common point neither with the Ottoman-Turkish kiosk tradition nor with the traditional British cottage. With its’non-classified unique architectural style, without doubt it is one of the important architectural examples of the early modern- late classical Ottoman architecture on the capital city, Istanbul. The second owner of the building, Giovanni Mizzi, the son of George Mizzi, supported the construction of the annex observatory at the top of this tower, which is glass in material. It is known that there is a telescope located on the middle of this observatory. And the other premise speciality of this space is that this annex observatory can be turned 360 degree around its’ axle. The building was used as a hotel during ten years in between 1930- 1940. It remained as a close building during the 2nd World War and a bit more till after 1952, till then it is rented by an island lover families to spend their summer in there. IKSV (Istanbul Culture & Art Foundation) selected this building as one of the main exhibition halls of the “Salt Water” thema based 14th Istanbul Bienal especially to make the aware of the new generations not only about the contemporary arts, but also make them aware of the important historical buildings of Ottoman capital city Istanbul. Manor of Mizzi, today is opened for a short time maybe, but it is for sure as one of the unique examples of the Prince Islands’ big sized old houses, needs to have a comprehensive restoration soon. Thus, the paper will be focused on ideas of the renovation and reuse criterias of this unique and magnificent building.