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The Marmara Pera
Istanbul, Turkey · The Marmara · Near Luxury
Bike Gürsel bought the old Mercury Hotel on Meşrutiyet Caddesi, near the Pera Palace, in December 2003. The block was about thirty years old. She stripped it to concrete, hired Mahmut Anlar, and opened The Marmara's second house on 1 October 2004, about 200 rooms and a small rooftop pool aimed at the Golden Horn and the Galata Bridge. In October 2005 Mehmet Gürs put Mikla on the top two floors. The name is Miklagard, the Norse name for the city, and Michelin gave the kitchen a star in October 2022.
- Opened 2004
- Neighborhood: Asmalı Mescit
- Interiors: Mahmut Anlar
About The Marmara Pera
- Bike Gürsel told Vatan, two months after the opening, that the project cost 19 million dollars, of which 4 to 4.5 million was the renovation.
- Mehmet Gürs was born in Finland to a Turkish father and a Finnish-Swedish mother, grew up in Sweden, trained in the United States, and moved to Istanbul in 1996.
- Anlar called it a concept hotel that could only stand on this street, and he kept 1970s Beyoğlu in the details: purple light, a stone mosaic at the door, and the rubber plants and monsteras of that decade.
History
The building was the Mercury Hotel, about thirty years old when Bike Gürsel bought it for The Marmara in December 2003. They stripped it to concrete because the plumbing and the wiring had to come out. Mahmut Anlar, who had designed rooms such as Laila and Vogue, took the interiors after another architect fell through. The hotel opened on 1 October 2004. Gürsel put the cost at 19 million dollars, about 4 to 4.5 million of it the renovation, and she counted about 200 rooms, against 400 up the hill at Taksim.
Anlar wanted a hotel that could only exist on this street: purple light, a stone mosaic at the door, the monsteras and rubber plants of 1970s Beyoğlu. A small pool on the roof looks at the Galata Bridge and the Golden Horn. Regulars from the Mercury years, many of them Greek, kept coming.
Mikla opened on the top two floors in October 2005. Mehmet Gürs named it for Miklagard, the Old Norse name for the city, and cooks what he calls the New Anatolian kitchen. Michelin gave the restaurant a star in October 2022.
The setting
Meşrutiyet Caddesi No. 15 is Tepebaşı, in Beyoğlu, near the Pera Palace and a short walk from Asmalımescit and İstiklal. Galata and the Golden Horn are the view from the roof. The Marmara Taksim sits at the other end of the same ridge.
Restaurants and bars
- Mikla — Restaurant
Awards
- Michelin star, Mikla (Mehmet Gürs) (2022)
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More The Marmara hotels
- The Marmara Bodrum - Adult Only — Bodrum, Turkey · Accessible Luxury
- The Marmara Taksim — Istanbul, Turkey · Accessible Luxury
- The Marmara Park Avenue — New York City, United States · Near Luxury
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- 10 Karakoy Istanbul — Independent · Accessible Luxury
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