Pasha was awarded a farmland here by the Ottoman Sultan Abdülhamid I; and in the early 19th century a military compound was built in the area of this farm. The nearby İstinye neighbourhood on the European shoreline of the Bosphorus also featured an important shipyard and dock for maintaining and repairing the military vessels of the Ottoman Navy. However, the Imperial Arsenal (Tersâne-i Âmire) and the Naval Ministry (Bahriye Nezareti) of the Ottoman Navy were located on the shores of the Golden Horn. History In the early 19th century, during the final years of the reign of Sultan Selim III, the first military compound of the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order) Army was built in Levent, which was then known as the Levend Çiftliği (Levend Farmlands), eventually becoming known as the Levend Kışlası (Levend Barracks). In 1868, during the first territorial organization of the Istanbul Municipality, Levend (the pronunciation of which was modified as Levent following the Turkish language reform) was placed within the district of Beşiktaş (which was designated as the 7th Area of the Istanbul Municipality), having remained within this district ever since. The modern neighbourhood of Levent was formed in 1947, when Emlak Kredi Bankası (a Turkish bank which was established to finance housing projects) chose the Levent area for constructing a well-planned residential compound, formed mostly of villa type houses with gardens. After the completion of the first phase of the Levent project in 1960, numerous other residential compounds were constructed in the area, eventually extending towards nearby Etiler. Starting from the late 1980s and early 1990s, with initial projects such as the Sabancı Center, Yapı Kredi Towers, TAT Towers, Metrocity Towers and İş Bankası Towers, Levent became a popular location for constructing new skyscrapers, mostly owned by Turkish banks and conglomerates. One of the city's major skyline clusters (together with those of Maslak and Şişli on the European side; and Ataşehir and Kozyatağı on the Asian side of Istanbul) is located in Levent. At present, Levent hosts the tallest skyscraper of Istanbul and Turkey, the 54-floor Istanbul Sapphire; while the construction of numerous new mixed-use skyscraper projects and shopping malls are ongoing in the neighbourhood, which has evolved into a central business district. Image gallery See also Maslak Bankalar Caddesi Istanbul International Finance Center List of tallest buildings in Istanbul List of tallest buildings in Turkey Architecture of Turkey References and notes External links Emporis: Skyscrapers