The Prinkipo/Büyükada 🇬🇷 Orphenage, allegedly the world's second largest wood construction, closed down in 1964 and lated seized by the 🇹🇷 state is about to crumble according to a recent press report. Here it is in its original glory on a Max Fruchtermann postcard. [THREAD] 
It was originally designed in 1898 as a luxury hotel for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the firm that operated the Orient Express, by Levantine architect and founder of the architecture department at the Ottoman School of Fine Arts, Alexandre Vallaury.
In 1903, however, after Sultan Abdul Hamid II refused to issue a permit for its operation, it was bought by the wife of a prominent Greek banker, Eleni Zarifi, who donated it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which subsequently used it as an orphanage.📷:Wikipedia
After a long legal battle the Turkish authorities eventually returned the property to the Greek Patriarchate in 2012. Although the building has been heavily damaged by a fire and 50 years of negligence, restorations projects have stalled ever since due to a lack of funding.
If you are interested in this topic, Turkish poet Enis Batur has written a short book about it, "The ghost", published by @NorgunkYayla in 2011. It seems that the Turkish version is out of print but the French translation is still available: norgunk.com/kitap/le-fanto…
