Narmanlı Apartmanı

The Narmanlı Han stands out on Istiklal Avenue with its heavy, yellow stone facade and a quiet, gated courtyard that feels cut off from the noise of the street. Built in eighteen thirty-one as the Russian Embassy, it later served as a prison and then an artists' residence. Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar once occupied a studio here, writing his most famous novels while the building slowly crumbled. The residents grew old behind those high walls until a major renovation transformed the site into commercial space.