Last updated on .
Kandilli is a pleasant village on the Asian side of the Bosporus in Istanbul. It’s located in the Üsküdar district north of Vaniköy and south of Küçüksu Pavilion.
Introduction to Kandilli
Kandilli rests on a cape at the deepest point on the Bosporus, where the depths reach 110 meters. During the Byzantine period, the neighborhood was known as Skaliés (Σκαλιές) or Nikópolis (Νικόπολη). It was a cosmopolitan area throughout the Ottoman period.
Today, the mostly residential and known for its beautiful 19th century seaside mansions and great views of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the second bride over the Bosporus. The interior part of the neighborhood is full of restored Ottoman homes.
The Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute of Boğaziçi University, which is dedicated to studying earthquakes, is located there. You’ll also find the highly respected Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls along with one Greek and one Armenian church.
Getting to Kandilli
The easiest way to get there is through Üsküdar. Take a ferry to Üsküdar and walk to the Üsküdar Cami Önü stop (in front of the mosque across the street from the ferry terminal). Hop on pretty much any bus with a number 15 until you reach the Kandilli stop. You can also take a dolmuş going to Beykoz and ask the driver to let you out at Kandilli – it’s much faster than the bus.
If you’re on the European side, there’s a ferry service on the Istanbul City Ferry Lines (İstanbul Şehir Hatları) from either Arnavutköy or Bebek every few hours throughout the day.
Kandilli Ferry Terminal
The ferry terminal sits in a nice little square lined by a few restaurants and cafés along with a small mosque. The Kandilli Mosque (Kandilli Camii) was built in 1632.
Adile Sultan Palace
The Adile Sultan Palace (Adile Sultan Sarayı) stands on a hill towering over Kandilli. It was built for Adile Sultan (1826-1899), the daughter of Sultan Mahmud II and sister of Abdülmecid I and Abdülaziz. The palace was commissioned by Abdülaziz and designed by Ottoman Armenian architect Sarkis Balyan (1835-1899). It was completed in 1861. The palace has 55 rooms and has 5,625 square meters of floor space. It sits on a 17,000 square meter property.
Adile Sultan lived in the palace until the death of her husband Mehmed Ali Pasha (1813-1868). Shortly before her death, she donated it to the state on the condition it be used as a school for girls, but it was first used by the Ministry of War during World War I.
Finally in 1916, it opened as the Adile Sultan Imperial Girls School (Adile Sultan İnas Mekteb-i Sultanisi). It was renamed the Kandilli Secondary School in 1924, and the Kandilli High School for Girls (Kandilli Kız Lisesi) in 1931. It later became a public school, the Kandilli Anatolian High School for Girls (Kandilli Anadolu Kız Lisesi). The school moved to a new building in 1969 but the palace continued to serve as a dormitory until 1986 when it burned down due to an electrical short circuit.
Current Use
The building was restored by Sakıp Sabancı (1933-2004) and reopened as the Sakıp Sabancı Kandilli Education and Culture Center (Sakıp Sabancı Kandilli Eğitim ve Kültür Merkezi) on June 28, 2006. As a private events center, the palace consists of the Oval Hall, which is a meeting and banquet hall that accommodates 500 people; the Seminar Hall; the 1,300 square meter Marble Hall for receptions and exhibitions; 10 seminar rooms; the Parquet Hall; and the VIP Lounge. The palace garden can accommodate 2,000 people and is a popular wedding venue. Check the official website for more info.
Seaside Mansions in Kandilli
The neighborhood is well-known for its impressive seaside mansions (yalılar). I’ll cover a few of the most significant here.
Edib Efendi Mansion
First, on the cape just west of the ferry terminal is the Edib Efendi Mansion (Edip Efendi Yalısı). It was built on the site of Kandilli Palace (Kandilli Sarayı) and consists of a 650-square-meter harem and 550-square-meter selamlık. The construction date is unknown but records show the first two owners were Muammer Pasha and Kani Pasha. It’s named for Edib Efendi (d. 1888), who purchased it from Kani Pasha in 1887. After his death, it was occupied by his two sons. British aristocrat Dorina Neave (1880-1955) lived there with her father George H. Clifton during the reign of Abdülhamid II.
The mansion was purchased from Edib Efendi’s estate by Ahmet Arif İyicigil in 1937. It fell into disrepair and was purchased by a private company in the 1980s. The harem section was restored between 1984 and 1987 and the selamlık in 1993, and the two sections were divided into separate properties. The mansion has characteristics of the Neoclassical and Empire styles. It has 27 rooms, 3 halls, and 3 bathrooms.
Hadi Semi Mansion
About seven houses east of the ferry terminal is the Hadi Semi Mansion (Hadi Semi Yalısı). It was built by a pair of British doctors working in Constantinople and was originally known as the Mumford House. The doctors left the city after World War I and sold it to a Greek shipowner named Lykiardopoulos. In 1946, it was purchased by lawyer Hadi Semi. The lower floor has a kitchen, pantry, and dining room while the upper floor contains the bedrooms. A winter mansion is on the hill behind it, connected by an elevator.
Count Leon Ostroróg Mansion
Next door is the Count Leon Ostroróg Mansion (Kont Leon Ostrorog Yalısı), which was built in 1850 by Ottoman beaurocrat Mahmud Server Pasha (1821-1886). It was purchased in 1904 by Leon Walerien Ostroróg (1867-1932) of Poland, who was invited to serve as a legal advisor at the Ottoman Ministry of Justice. He enlarged it in 1905 by combining it with the Ahmed Aşkî Pasha Mansion (Ahmet Aşkî Paşa Yalısı) next door. It has two floors and 15 rooms, and the flooring originally belonged to the Köçeoğlu Mansion in Bebek, which was demolished in 1940.
Abud Efendi Mansion
Next is the Abud Efendi Mansion (Abud Efendi Yalısı). It was built by Altunizade Necip Bey and built by Garabet Amira Balyan (1800-1866) between 1835 and 1855. It was purchased by Baron de Vandeuvre of France in 1858 and he lived there for about 40 years. Mehmed Abud Efendi (1839-2017) bought it in 1900 and his family owned it until 1981, when they sold it to İsmail Özdoyuran (1921-2007). The mansion has been featured on some Turkish television series.
The Neoclassical style mansion has 270 square meters of floor space. It features 18 rooms and 2 halls as well as 3 boathouses and a small hamam. The harem and selamlik are in two separate structures. It was renovated between 1984 and 1989.
Kıbrıslı Mansion
Finally, at the edge of Kandilli is the Kıbrıslı Mansion (Kıbrıslı Yalısı). It was built in the last quarter of the 18th century by Izzet Mehmed Pasha (1723-1784), a two-time Grand Vizier under Sultan Abdülhamid I, and originally known as the Black Vizier Mansion (Kara Vezir Yalısı). It has the widest façade of any mansion on the Bosporus at 64 meters. The mansion passed on to Izzet Mehmed Pasha’s son, Said Bey (d. 1811), and then his grandson, Kapıcıbaşı Mehmed Ataullah Bey. Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha (1813-1871), a three-time Grand Vizier under Abdülmecid I, purchased the mansion in 1840.
The mansion was a popular meeting place for writers Pierre Loti (1850-1923) and Yahya Kemal (1884-1958), and hosted foreign dignitaries including King Faisal I of Iraq and Eugénie of France (1826-1920).
Today, the mansion is split into four different properties. Ömer Üründül bought the harem section, the descendants of Izzet Mehmed Pasha live in the selamlık section, the middle section was purchased by Ümran Güngör Üzümcü in 1996, and the Komili family owns the fourth and final section. In total, it has 21 rooms, with 15 on the lower floors and 6 on the upper floor. Three large baths have not survived.
