Çankaya Palace completed in a year and a half
Arriving in Ankara on December 27, 1919, Mustafa Kemal used, for some time, the School of Agriculture both as his office and residence and later moved to the Station Chief Pavilion. Later on, the residents of Ankara gave him a vineyard kiosk in Çankaya as his residency. Although it was expanded several times, the pavilion fell short of serving as a presidential palace. Consequently, a decision was made to build a new presidential palace in November of 1930 on the adjoining property. Mustafa Kemal entirely left the decisions on the design of the new palace to Austrian architect Prof. Clemens Holzmeistere. A part of the palace interior was designed in Vienna, at the Academy of Fine Arts. Construction materials were also brought from Austria.
Construction began in 1931; Holzmeister completed the Çankaya Palace in only one and a half years and delivered it in June of 1932. Built in two floors upon a basement floor, the ground floor of the palace was designed as study and audience hall and the upper floor accommodated its residents.
Çankaya Palace functioned as both the office and residence of İsmet İnönü, Celal Bayar, Cemal Gürsel, Cevdet Sunay, Fahri Korutürk, Kenan Evren, Turgut Özal, and Süleyman Demirel, who served as presidents after Atatürk. Following the completion of the new service building, the palace has been used solely as residence since 9th President Süleyman Demirel’s term. Çankaya Palace was renovated in 2000-2001 and restored to its original state from 1932.
