The Palace's Design and Construction

When architect Alexander Vallaury was presented with the task of constructing a new hotel in the heart of Istanbul’s Beyoglu District, he aptly anticipated the significance that his new building would have on the city and in the world. Istanbul at the end of the 19th century was a place alive with culture, and as the Orient Express train began to make access to the city easier for Western European visitors, the place where those people would stay would end up defining their impression of Istanbul. Built from 1881 to 1891, the hotel was opened in 1892 with the intention of housing the passengers of the Orient Express. (1)

With that in mind, the design of the building would demand a tremendous amount of consideration for the stylistic statement that would be made. And Vallaury went about it in the most diplomatic way possible.

Vallaury had always been an architect that sought balance between the two the worlds of east and west (1). Aside from his architectural education, he lived in Istanbul during his life. His style of architecture reflected his upbringing in that he combined traditional Ottoman culture with the style of the west in his designs. That being said, the Pera Palace Hotel ended up being the first western hotel in the city of Istanbul—significant because it was the place people stayed, the place people remembered, and yet, it heavily embraced one side of a split city. 

 The Pera Palace has and forever will be an attraction in its own right, but the fact of the matter is that it has succumbed within Turkish tourism to be a western landmark in a city that prides itself for its multi-dimensional cultural makeup. 

1. "Alexandre Vallaury - Architect." -. My Merhaba, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2016.