Tokatlıyan Hotels

Tokatlıyan Hotels
Tokatlıyan Hotel on Rue de Pera (Istiklal Caddesi) in Beyoğlu
General information
Location	Istanbul, Turkey
Opening	1897

The Tokatlıyan Hotels, founded by Mıgırdiç Tokatlıyan, were two prominent hotels located around Istanbul. The hotels were regarded as luxury hotels where many famed individuals such as Leon Trotsky and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stayed. They are considered among the first European-style hotels to be built in Turkey.

The Tokatlıyan Hotels were founded by Mıgırdiç Tokatlıyan, an Ottoman citizen of Armenian descent, who moved from Tokat to Istanbul in 1883 and adopted the last name Tokatlıyan meaning "from Tokat". Mıgırdiç Tokatlıyan eventually settled in Nice, France, where he lived the rest of his life.

Mıgırdiç Tokatlıyan established the first Tokatlıyan Hotel in 1897 on the Rue de Pera (modern Istiklal Caddesi) in Pera, Beyoğlu. The hotel was first known as Hotel Splendide but the name soon changed to Hotel Tokatlıyan. It originally had 160 rooms and its furnishings were brought from Europe. The hotel contained high-ceiling halls and rooms and it also had its own coat of arms made with silver which was placed all around the hotel. The Hotel was one of the popular venues of the Istanbul high society for a long time. Many famed individuals such as Leon Trotsky, Josephine Baker, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk were guests of the hotel. Atatürk considered it his favorite hotel.

During the First World War and the Armenian Genocide, the hotel was vandalized and its windows were broken. It was eventually passed down to the Serbian businessman Nikolai Medovitch in 1919 and after that to the Turkish businessman İbrahim Gültan, who changed the hotel's name to Konak. By the 1950s, due to lack of maintenance, the hotel was run-down and in a deteriorating state, after which the Üç Horan (Holy Trinity) Armenian Church bought the property and attained ownership.