All the buildings in the Serdar-ı Ekrem Street, from Tünel Square to the Galata Tower, are historical buildings, but the Dogan Building deserves special attention because it represents the beginning of Beyoglu's modernization and its rich history. With the shape of a magnet, as if it wants to magnetize the magnificent view of the Bosphorus and the historical peninsula, Dogan Building is formed of four six-story blocks with separate entrances, stairs and elevators. The three interior walls of the building face a 400 m2 atrium.
The history of Dogan Building started in 1868, with its being purchased by Prussia with the aim of transforming the two storied Turkish manor with a garden into an embassy. In 1872 the embassy moved and after some time a Belgian family, Helbigs, built today’s building as an investment. It is believed that the construction took place between 1892 and 1893 and the architect of the building is Raimondo D’Aronco, an Italian architect who restored many historical buildings like the Grand Bazaar after the 1894 earthquake in Istanbul and built many significant buildings such as the first Art Nouveau architecture in Istanbul, the Botter Building.
The building, known with the Helbig family name until 1919, changed ownership twice, in 1919 and 1920. In 1942 Kazım Taskent, the founder of Yapi ve Kredi Bank, bought the building and named it after his son Dogan who died in 1939 because of an avalanche in the Swiss Alps. Especially in 1950s the building was inhabited by rich countrymen, important artists and educated people of the time. One of the oldest residents of the building is the writer Rasih Nuri İleri, who was born in 1920 and a close witness of the 70 years of Turkish political history and a relative of painter Abidin Dino. Mualla Eyuboglu Anhegger, the sister of the famous painter Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu and the wife of the important Turcologist Robert Anhegger were among the residents of this building.
Dogan Building has recently been a popular place for filming movies, TV series, music videos and advertisements and at the moment accommodates Okay Temiz, an international rhythm artist, Sezen Aksu, an artist dear to Turkish people and Okan Bayülgen, a TV star.
When you visit Dogan building, in the same street you will see the Crimean Memorial Church (or Christ’s Church), which was built between 1858 and 1868 as a memory of the Crimean War. Reminiscent of the Middle Ages with its twin bell towers, this Neo-Gothic church should certainly be visited.
Address: Serdar-ı Ekrem Sokağı, No: 56 Tünel Beyoğlu
