Arkas Sanat Göztepe

About Arkas Sanat Göztepe

Arkas Sanat Göztepe is an art centre run by Arkas Holding in the restored Ayşe and Seniha Mayda Mansion in Göztepe. It opened in September 2025 as the sixth Arkas Sanat centre in İzmir and hosts a permanent display of Turkish painting drawn from the Arkas Collection, titled Turkish Painters in the Arkas Collection. It also has workshop spaces for children and adults, a garden and a café, Monreve Patisserie. The registered mansion was built for Grand Vizier Kâmil Pasha in the 19th century. No document names its architect, but an Ottoman archive record shows the pasha kept working with Raymond Charles Péré, architect of the İzmir Clock Tower, on his private properties, which suggests Péré may have designed it. The house was later let as a Jewish girls' school, the Göztepe Italian School and a private secondary school. The Mayda family settled here in the 1950s, and Ayşe Mayda, described as Turkey's first woman orthodontist, lived here until her death in 2021, opening the doors to artists, students, writers and guests. The facade has geometric patterns in two-coloured brick, while the interior keeps graceful Art Nouveau details. Behind the brick skin are thick stone walls around a hidden timber frame. The garden is rich in trees, from stone pines and cedars to jacaranda, carob and olive, with a pond at the back and paving stones that came from the clearance of the burned area that became the İzmir fair ground. Visiting: open every day except Monday, 10:00 to 18:00. Guided tours for schools and adults can be booked through Arkas Sanat.