
It was designed and constructed in 1898 by the French-Ottoman architect Alexander Vallaury as a luxury hotel and casino, named Prinkipo Palace, for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the European passenger train company that operated the Orient Express. It was sold in 1903, however, when Sultan Abdul Hamid II would not issue a permit for its operation, and subsequently bought by the wife of a prominent Greek banker, Eleni Zarifi, who donated it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which operated it as an orphanage. On April 21, 1964, during heightened tension of the Cyprus issue and persecution against the local Greek population by the state authorities the orphanage was forcefully closed by the General Directorate of Foundations (Vakif Genel Mudurlugu). In 1997, the property was seized by the Turkish state. Throughout its history, the orphanage has catered to the needs of 5,800 orphans