The building, which is one of the rare examples remaining from the famous Fener Houses of the 17-18th Century in Fener-Balat, was restored in 1990 with the project of Cengiz Bektaş and has been used as a Women's Works Library ever since.
The building consist of two adjacent blocks. We guess that they were made in different periods. There is also the wooden entrance/stairs structure that we discovered was lost. Until 1990, these structures were largely demolished and remained underground, but with the restoration that started in 1989, they became what they are today and a concrete amphitheater was added in front of it by Cengiz Bektaş.
Within the scope of the project, first of all, inappropriate interventions made after 1990 were cleaned up. Restoration errors that we identified with researches and typological studies were corrected. The wooden terrace, documented by the restitution works, was added to the entrance of the building with a contemporary interpretation. The spaces in the existing building were used as reading rooms, offices and multi-purpose halls.
In addition to the restoration decisions, the concrete amphitheater was partially remodeled in accordance with the topography, elevators were added for unhindered access, and an additional structure buried in the ground consisting of archive, kitchen, security and WC units was designed to meet the needs of the library.
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