“Kuleli Kösk”, which means the “towered mansion”, was built in the early 1900s by an Ottoman Paşa. We, the current owner of the “Kuleli” since the 2007, Johanna and Ilhami Alkan Olsson and two daughters Elsa and Roza, are a family with roots both in Turkey and Sweden. We have up to now lived and studied in France, Belgium and England. We, the adults, are university employees, yet have the chance to work frequently from home. Kuleli Kösk was the most important raison for us to move to Turkey in 2007. Of course, we also thought that Heybeliada Island, which is a car-free and green oasis in the metropolis of Istanbul, was an ideal place for our daughter to grow up freely.

Kuleli Kösk is a grade-2 listed wooden house built by Greek and Armenian craftsmen in a Greco-Ottoman building style. Unfortunately there are fewer and fewer of these mansions left in Istanbul. Yet one could observe an increasing awareness of the value of such buildings in Turkey. ‘

Kuleli’ has four floors. In the main building there are two kitchens, five bedrooms, two living rooms, a dining room, a tower room and a spa with Finnish sauna and shower with massage panel.

All rooms, except the spa room, have a sea view. Kuleli Kösk also has two outbuildings; one is fully equipped with bathroom and kitchen. Much of the furniture found in the house is heirlooms imported from Sweden and the rest is restored furniture from the island's glory times in the early 1900.