In 1869, Sultan Abdülaziz granted the land for this four-storey estate to the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, on the condition that it be used as an orphanage. That same year, the Saint-Joseph French Orphanage opened its doors alongside the adjacent Saint Eugène elementary school. Both institutions remained active until 1937. The building’s deteriorating state, coupled with unresolved international legal disputes over ownership, eventually led to its acquisition by the Beyoğlu District Municipality in 2022. The garden, relatively unchanged over the decades, with its bostan (community garden) wells, terraces and running water, now functions as a public space known as ‘Tophane Mekân’.