Sultan Abdulaziz built the palace to replace an older Çırağan Palace on the site. Nigoğayos Balyan designed it, and his sons Sarkis and Hagop Balyan built it between 1863 and 1867, though the article says construction and decoration continued until 1872. The inner walls and roof were wood, and the outer walls were colorful marble.
It sits on the European shore of the Bosphorus between Beşiktaş and Ortaköy, with a very high garden wall and a marble bridge to Yıldız Palace on the hill behind. A fire on January 19, 1910 destroyed it and left only the outer walls.
A Japanese corporation bought the ruin in 1987 and restored it. A hotel building in the garden opened in 1990 and the palace in 1992, while the infobox lists a 1991 renovation and the text a further one in 2007. It is now a five-star Kempinski hotel, and the article gives no access details for non-guests.
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