The building that houses the Government Staff is one of the best examples of Turkish civic architecture of the 1920s and 1930s, when development centred on Ankara.
Ankara became the centre of Turkish political life in 1920 when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk led the struggle for national liberation from the occupying powers of the Entente. Since 1923, the city has officially been the capital of the Republic of Turkey.
At that time, Ankara was home to only 20,000 people. The city mainly consisted of single-storey houses made of wood and sun-baked bricks. The famous Austrian architect Clemens Holzmeister was invited to design a new building to house the Government staff. His main achievement in Ankara was the Parliament building. He worked on it with a Turkish colleague, Mr Erdem. They constructed the building on what had been desolate grounds in the Bakanliklar (Ministries) area.
These two architects won an international competition to build the Customs and State Monopolies (at that time: alcohol and tobacco) building. Built in 1937-8, this building was the first example of business property construction in Turkey.
It has housed the Prime Ministerial Staff since the 1950s.
The building is distinguished by an austere and laconic architectural style, and the distinctive use of materials characteristic of central Turkey.
In the 1980s the Prime Ministerial official residency moved to a new building, opposite the Çankaya Presidential Palace. It was used during the official visit of President Putin to Turkey in 2004.
One unique aspect of the building is a small pond with ornamental fishes, which lies under a transparent floor in one part of the residency.