Situated in Yeniköy - Tarabya, now serving as the residence of the president of Turkey, this building set in its own grounds overlooking the Bosphorus was once owned by Auguste Huber who engaged the Italian architect Raimondo D’Aranco and was restored to its former state in 1994. Auguste Huber together with his brother came from Germany during the latter part of the 19th century to act as representatives of the German arnament companies of Krupp and Mauser. The family left for good just after WWI.

The Huber villa in the background of a shot of vehicle from the 1920s, possibly during the Allied occupation period as the first language on the road sign for speeding is in English. Car ownership at that time would have been the preserve of the top earners and the occupants were possibly Levantine, or Greek bankers of Tarabya etc. It is highly unlikely they would have been ‘Bosphorus Germans’, such as the Hubers, as during the Allied occupation all Germans and Austrians were ordered to leave Turkey at short notice by the Allied occupation powers. The sign may well have been placed following a mishap involving a vehicle flying into the Bosphorus?

Click for information on the yalıs of Kandilli, Mizzi mansion of Büyükada and the Bruno Taut house of Ortaköy.