IHG's Vignette Collection reaches Istanbul with heritage conversion on Bankalar Caddesi
IHG Hotels & Resorts has opened L'Union Han in Istanbul, marking the first appearance of its Vignette Collection brand in the city. The property occupies a building whose construction began in 1905 and was completed in 1911, originally commissioned for one of the Ottoman Empire's first insurance companies. It sits on Bankalar Caddesi, long regarded as one of Istanbul's most historically significant commercial streets.
The structure is immediately recognisable for its turquoise ceramic tiles, pointed domes and deep eaves — all of which have been preserved as part of a restoration led by architect Kıymet Aşık Yarkın and Ka Line Mimarlık. The project was driven by hospitality and property entrepreneur Tevfik Nazlı. Architecturally, the building carries traces of the First National Architecture movement while incorporating Art Nouveau and Art Deco influences.
A suitcase, an archive and a reattributed authorship
The restoration acquired an unexpected dimension when a suitcase was discovered in a second-hand bookshop containing hundreds of drawings, letters and photographs from the archive of Italian architect Edoardo De Nari. For years the building had been attributed solely to Giulio Mongeri; the recovered archive reconnected it with De Nari and materially altered the understanding of the building's authorship. The papers had been preserved throughout her life by De Nari's daughter, Lydia, a ballerina, before surfacing in the bookshop.
That personal history is embedded in the hotel's design. A sculpture by Serap Kurtuluş, titled Rebel, stands in the property and represents Lydia, the suitcase she carried and the building's memory. Sketches from De Nari's archive appear in textiles and surface finishes, while documents displayed in public areas trace the building's different periods, positioning the hotel as part accommodation and part living archive.
Original staircases, timber details and brass finishes were retained during the restoration, and the exterior's turquoise tiles are reinterpreted in the interior. An installation by Bengisu Yazıcı, running from the third floor upwards, extends the idea of Bankalar Caddesi as a place of trade and movement into the hotel's interior spaces.
Food, beverage and brand positioning
The hotel's restaurant, Banca Unione, links Turkish and Italian cuisines. The menu was shaped by Solid Consulting Group and culinary concept adviser Chef Tolga Atalay, progressing from breakfast and baked goods through daytime coffee and pastry service to an evening dining format. The bar concept, designed by Erhan Sağır, combines Italian aperitivo culture with local aromatic flavours.
The hotel's name, L'Union, is presented as a reference to unity and gathering, reflecting an intent to connect different periods, cultures and stories within a single property.
Why it matters
For the travel trade, the opening is significant on several levels. Vignette Collection — IHG's portfolio for independent hotels with distinct identities — now has a foothold in Istanbul, one of the region's most competitive upper-upscale hotel markets. The conversion model, anchoring a global brand's soft-collection product in a restored heritage asset rather than a new-build, reflects a broader industry shift that tour operators and bedbanks are tracking closely as travellers increasingly seek properties with demonstrable provenance and narrative.
The Bankalar Caddesi location also carries commercial weight: the street's historical association with Ottoman-era banking and trade gives the property a positioning that is difficult to replicate and potentially resilient to the commoditisation pressures that affect more generic city-centre inventory. For hotel investors and developers watching Turkey's heritage-conversion pipeline, L'Union Han offers a data point on how archival research and design storytelling can be deployed as a commercial differentiator at the point of brand affiliation.
