ABSTRACT

Kırkkilise (Kırklareli) Greek School, whose old building’s construction date is unknown, was rebuilt as Greek Junior High School in 1903. As it was in the past, the building is still the most prominent architectural element in the silhouette of its milieu today. The building, which was constructed in a similar design with the other Greek schools of its time, carries the traces of neoclassical style with its antique elements on the monumental entrance facade. The building provided education as Greek School and after 1905 as Greek Junior High School until the year 1922. The building, which was made over to Turkish State after the Armistice of Mudanya, was passed to the state treasury by the 1939 cadastre. It was always used as an education building as Ziya Gökalp Primary School, Kırklareli Secondary School, Kırklareli High School, Kırklareli Commercial High School and lastly Vali (Governor) Faik Üstün Primary School in the years 1923-2005 and produced thousands of graduates. The building lost its wooden elements like roof and plank flooring in the fire on 14 December 2005 and has become unusable. In 2014, the restoration of the building was permitted for its use as “boutique hotel”. In this study, the history of the building which hosted a lot of educational institutions was researched. In addition, the original plans and construction process of the building were examined in detail so as to contribute the future restoration works.