Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage

The Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage is a historic wooden building on Buyukada, one of the Princes' Islands near Istanbul, Turkey, designed by the French Ottoman architect Alexander Vallaury and begun in 1898 as a luxury hotel and casino for the Orient Express company. When the Turkish government refused an operating permit in 1903, the building was donated to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which converted it into an orphanage that operated until it was forced to close in 1964 amid tensions over Cyprus. Covering about 20,000 square meters with 206 rooms, it is considered the largest wooden building in Europe and the second largest in the world, and it sheltered roughly 5,800 orphans over its years of operation. The building deteriorated after closing and suffered a major fire in 1980; following decades of legal disputes it was returned to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2012, and restoration work involving the Patriarchate and private developers is underway.