Sultan Mahmud II ordered the tower, and Senekerim Balyan designed the current stone tower of 1828. His brother Krikor Balyan, the palace architect, had built a wooden tower in 1826, which Janissary supporters burned. The first timber fire-watch tower dates to 1749 and was lost in the Great Fire of 1756. The article calls the style Ottoman Baroque. The tower is stone and 279 feet (85 m) high. Three octagonal floors were added in 1849, and a 43-foot (13 m) iron pole in 1889. The wooden staircase has 256 steps.
An earthquake in 1889 caused partial damage, followed by restoration, and a major restoration came in 1997. Twenty firefighters were stationed there until 1923.
The City of Istanbul owns it. It now signals weather with colored lights, and entry has needed special permission since 1972.
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