This clock tower standing as the prime symbol of a city, is the work of the Izmir born French architect Raymond Péré. The tower was built in 1901 to celebrate the 25^th year of the reign of Sultan Abdülhamit II.

View of the clock tower and Konak square in the 1930s.

The building served (and still does) as the city’s governor’s office and was founded on a Kâtipzade family’s konak (mansion) hence ‘Konak’. The building burnt in the early 1970s (?) and was rebuilt in the same style as before. There used to be an Ottoman college (Mekteb-i Sultâni) next to it which was used as court of justice in the early years of the Republic. It was later pulled down and replaced by the extension of the governor’s office.

The inner part of Konak, Hükümet Caddesi with the National Library that was the former Elhambra Opera building seen on the right and the arches of the Governor’s lodge in the distance.

Archive views of the area to the East and the former neighbouring Sarıkışla barracks.