Luvr Apartment

Located in Istanbul Beyoğlu Istiklal Street, Luvr Apartment is one of the best examples of Istanbul's neo-baroque style.

Luvr Apartment, which was built by the architect Viktor Adamandidis by an Armenian jeweler, is located at 64 Istiklal Street, just across the historical Atlas Passage. This building, which is among the impressive buildings of the period it was built, once housed the very famous Balyan Patisserie at the entrance.

This patisserie was first opened by two Greek partners, Filip Lenas and Yorgo Kiçiris, in 1923 under the name L'Orient. However, since the use of foreign words was banned in businesses in 1934, with the suggestion of Art History Professor Burhan Toprak, the patisserie was named Balyan, which means "perfect in its field".

Until 1957, when this patisserie was open, it hosted such important names of its period; Beyoğlu Balyan, just as Les Deux Magots in Paris hosted Ernest Hemingway, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Bertolt Brecht and many more, Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar, Tarık Buğra, Atilla İlhan, Demir Özlü and Hilmi Yavuz, many poets and writers.

In the years following 1957, Luvr Apartment was used as the Headquarters of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV). After İKSV moved to Deniz Apartments in 2009, Luvr Apartments started to serve a special clothing store.