Prinkipo Greek Orphanage

The Prinkipo Greek Orphanage is a historic wooden structure spanning over 20,000 square meters on Büyükada, one of the nine Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara off the coast of Istanbul, Turkey. The building was designed and built in 1898 by French-Ottoman architect Alexander Vallaury as a lavish hotel and casino for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Eleni Zarifi, the wife of a prominent Greek banker, purchased it in 1903 and generously donated it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The building served as an orphanage from 1903 to 1964, when it was forced to close by the General Directorate of Foundations because of its danger of collapsing. The Turkish state seized the property in 1997, and it has since housed approximately 5,800 orphans.