Arkas Art Göztepe opened to visitors in September 2025 as the sixth art center of Arkas Art in İzmir. Housed in the Ayşe & Seniha Mayda Mansion, which was transformed into an art center following a meticulous restoration process carried out by Arkas Holding, the venue presents a selection of Turkish paintings drawn from the Arkas Collection. In addition to its permanent collection exhibition, Arkas Art Göztepe has been conceived as an integral part of the city’s cultural life, featuring workshop spaces for children and adults, as well as garden and café areas.

History of the Mansion
To date, no direct information concerning either the construction process of the Ayşe-Seniha Mayda Mansion or its architect has been identified in archival records. However, a document preserved in the Ottoman Archives reveals that Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha continued to work with the architect Raymond Charles Péré on his private properties following the construction of the Clock Tower. The document refers to “six houses and four shops built by Engineer Monsieur Péré on Galazi Street in Fasülye.” Kâmil Pasha’s particular interest in the Clock Tower, together with the information contained in this document, strengthens the possibility that the mansion may also have been designed by Péré.

After serving as Governor of Aydın, Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha returned to Cyprus, while his properties in İzmir were rented out and the resulting income distributed among his family members. Archival records indicate that the mansion was leased for a variety of purposes over time, serving institutions such as the Jewish Girls’ School, the Göztepe Italian School, and the İzmir Private Devrim Middle School. The last known tenant of the mansion was Mehmet Dürdali Karasan, one of the first soldiers to enter İzmir on 9 September 1922.
The Mayda Family settled in the mansion in the 1950s, and Ayşe Mayda continued to reside there until her passing in 2021. As one of the distinguished families that played an active role in İzmir’s modernization process, the Mayda Family made significant contributions to urban life, educational reform, and cultural development. The Ayşe-Seniha Mayda Mansion became a symbol of this historical legacy, hosting artists such as Safiye Ayla and Şerif Muhiddin Targan, as well as statesmen including the King of Iraq. By opening the mansion not only to her private guests but also to students, academics, journalists, writers, and representatives of civil society, Ayşe Mayda helped establish the building as an integral part of the city’s cultural life.

Through the meticulous restoration carried out by Arkas Holding, with careful respect for the mansion’s history, the Ayşe-Seniha Mayda Mansion was revitalized in 2025 as a cultural and arts center under the name Arkas Art Göztepe.

Architecture
The geometric patterns created by the two-tone brickwork on the building’s exterior harmoniously integrate with the elegant Art Nouveau details of the interior, clearly revealing the hand of a master architect.

The building’s structural system possesses a particularly noteworthy characteristic. Within the interior lies a timber frame structure concealed beneath the plaster, enclosed by thick stone walls. The outermost layer consists of a single course of brick cladding. Although the distinctive brickwork visible on the façade gives the impression that the building was constructed entirely of brick, the primary structure is in fact composed of stone walls. In addition, the timber frame system was employed as a supporting element in accordance with technical and structural requirements.

Surveys conducted using precise measurement techniques have shown that the walls on all levels of the building are perfectly aligned with one another. In traditional buildings, it is common to encounter slight shifts in wall alignment or variations in angles. However, the absence of such irregularities in the Ayşe-Seniha Mayda Mansion, together with the precision of its detailing, provides one of the strongest indications that the building was designed and constructed by a highly accomplished architect.

Landscape
The grounds of the mansion are exceptionally rich in tree species. The garden is home to pine, stone pine, Turkish pine, cedar, maple, acacia, mulberry, bay laurel, Judas tree, linden, jacaranda, Japanese pagoda tree, elm, pepper tree, carob tree, tree of heaven, chinaberry tree, and olive tree. A pond has been created in the rear garden of the mansion. One of the most distinctive features of the garden is its natural stone paving.

Following the Great Fire, the area that is now the İzmir International Fairgrounds was left in ruins. During the mayoralty of Behçet Uz, when the site was designated for redevelopment as a fairground, the task of transporting the rubble was entrusted to Ayşe Mayda’s father, who worked in cart-based transport services. Instead of monetary compensation, the municipality provided the Mayda family with the street stones recovered from the site. While some of these stones were distributed to people in need and various institutions, others were used in the garden of the mansion.