A small historical Greek House
in the heart of Taksim

A witness to 20th century, Element Taksim's story goes back to the 1900s. The building seen today was a Greek house at the beginning of the 20th century when  the street was a settlement to meet the needs of the personnel working for the embassies situated around today's Istiklal (Independence) Street. By that time, Greek and Armenian artists,  artisans merchants lived here and it was a rich district. The neighborhood's most prominent building is still a Greek Orthodox Church from the 19th century. The city's oldest and largest Syriac Orthodox church is also found here. The First World War, Ankara's being the capital city, population exchange and finally the events of 6-7 September changed many things and caused to a drastical decrease in the population of Greeks and the district went out of the flow of the history for decades, so called lost years of the district began. The clothes which people living in the region still hang onto the ropes stretching from one window to another that many find as romantic and cute are but customs people developed during the lost years.
For a very long time our building was in ruins itself until 10th January 2010 when we rebuilt it in exactly its old shape according to the new Turkish earthquake standards and totally renovated and named it Element Taksim Suites. It has five rooms, each of which are decorated by Paolo FatIchE with the Greek basic elements in mind; fire and water. From the window of your luxurious and creatively designed modern room you will be watching a theatre of history but not played by actors by real people instead for little has changed.