The House

A hundred and twelve years of patina.

Mavi Konak was never meant to be a hotel. That's part of why it works as one.

1912 — 2012

A century as a private home.

Mavi Konak was built in 1912 as the summer residence of the Göksel family, Bosphorus shipping brokers whose business ran out of Karaköy for four generations. The house passed between cousins, children and grandchildren for ninety-eight years, and was still occupied by one of the great-granddaughters when we bought it in 2010.

You can still see the Göksels on the wall in the hammam corridor — a hand-painted family tree the youngest daughter commissioned in 1947. We kept it.

2010 — 2024

Twelve years to open the doors.

Restoration took longer than it needed to. The original timber had to come from the same forest; the lime had to be slaked from Marmara shells, not bought bagged; and the hammam marble was lifted plate by plate, numbered, cleaned, and set back exactly where it had been. We worked with Mehmet Gürsoy's İznik studio for every tile.

Timber from the same Yalova forest as the original 1912 build
Lime slaked by hand from Marmara shells, not industrial bags
Every İznik tile hand-painted by the Gürsoy workshop in Kütahya
Hammam marble numbered, cleaned and set back in the exact position

The Team

Twelve people. One roof.

Mavi Konak is run by a staff of twelve, most of whom live in Beşiktaş. The concierge, Alper, has been in the neighbourhood for forty years and knows which rakı bar still serves the good çiğ köfte. Chef Emre trained at Mikla and comes to work by boat every morning. The housekeeping team, led by Aylin, has been with us since the first week we opened.

If you want to meet someone before you book — tell us. We'll put you on a video call.