Private residence of the hotel owners: an oriental tale behind tinted glass

Passing the gallery

Text: Natalya Sedyakina

Magazine: Free (Cat) 2004

The Ritz Carlton chain has dozens of hotels around the world, each of which is unique and has its own history. Penthouse Istanbul Ritz Carlton deserves a separate story. Wealthy lodgers also live here, but ... lodgers forever. These are private apartments of co-owners of the hotel business. Being a true fan of the aesthetics of the Ritz Carlton, the co-owner of the newly built Istanbul hotel and his family decided to settle in the penthouse of their own hotel. They moved here after a two-year interior renovation, carried out by architect Kalayan Tugal (Caglayan Tugal). The area of ​​the penthouse is 1600 square meters. There are hand-painted five-meter ceilings everywhere and there are six (!) Elevators for guests. Ritz Carlton is considered to be one of the most beautiful hotels in the city: its 27 floors soar into the Istanbul sky in the historic center, and Topkapi Palace and Hagia can argue with it over beauty and presentability throughout the Bosphorus coast. The hotel consists of two parts: the main 15-storey building of a standard VIP-building and the tower, which occupies the remaining part of the hotel, where the penthouses are located. In one of them the owner's family lives now. The overall style of the Istanbul hotel belongs to the palace interior tradition of the XVI-XVIII centuries. But the interior of the penthouse, which was created by Kalayan Tugal, bears a clear imprint of an earlier period, with reminiscences of the Byzantine style, as well as replicas of the culture of the Ottoman Empire. This interior can be called not only luxurious, but truly historic. All penthouse floors are finished with the rarest types of marble and onyx: three types of marble "participate" only in a mosaic pattern on the floor. The ceiling vaults to the Russian guest will probably be reminded of vaults in the boyar chambers, but this is nothing more than a Byzantine tradition. The harmony of ceiling arcades is completed by heavy wrought-iron chandeliers, akin in appearance to each other, but in fact all of very different and often incredible origins: each of them was individually found in the antique markets of Europe. Also, most of the furniture was purchased at the flea and antique markets of Madrid, Brussels, Istanbul and Paris: these are luxurious bronze candelabra, glamorous oriental ottomans, massive wall furniture. Of course, an important role in creating an exclusive atmosphere of the eastern empire is played by the ornamental painting of walls (Venetian plaster) and heavy draperies made of silk taffeta (specially ordered from Tugal sketches in Paris) on the windows. The exterior of the hotel is made in the best "skyscraper" traditions - from tinted glass. Therefore, specialists often had questions to Kalayan Tugal, whether the internal “sultan's” interior does not contradict the external “skyscraper” interior. “You should never forget,” the architect says in this case, “that we live in the modern world with modern realities. But it is he who gives us the opportunity not only to choose which city and hotel in which category we stay, but even choose an imperial style in which we would dream to live. " The owner of the penthouse fully agrees with him. "Why can not a beautiful oriental tale behind tinted glass?" - he considers.