when the great earthquake of 10 July 1894 devastated the city. One of its victims was the exhibition, which had to be scrapped. But in the wake of the earthquake, the need for an architect of Raimondo d’Aronco's standing became even more urgent, as a rebuilding program got underway. He was first charged with restoring damaged monuments in the old city, and went on to design scores of buildings for the government and individuals. The Istanbul period in his professional career only came to an end with the deposition of Sultan Abdülhamid II in 1909. These 16 years were to be the most productive years of his life, and represented the height of his originality. Major works D'Aronco designed and built a large number of buildings of various types in Istanbul. The stylistic features of his works can be classified in three groups: Revivalism, reinterpretation of the Ottoman forms, Art Nouveau and Vienna Secession. Art Nouveau was first introduced to Istanbul by d'Aronco, and his designs reveal that he drew freely on Byzantine and Ottoman decoration for his inspiration. D'Aronco made creative use of the forms and motifs of Islamic architecture to create modern buildings for the city. The buildings, which he designed at Yıldız Palace, were European in style. The best known of these are Yildiz Palace pavilions and the Yildiz Ceramic Factory (1893–1907), the Janissary Museum and the Ministry of Agriculture (1898), the fountain of Abdulhamit II (1901), Karakoy Mosque (1903), the mausoleum for the Tunisian religious leader Sheikh Zafir Efendi (1905–1906), tomb within the cemetery of Fatih Mosque (1905), Cemil Bey House at Kireçburnu (1905), clock tower for the Hamidiye-i Etfal Hospital (1906). Casa Botter (Botter Apartmanı) (1900–1901), a seven-story workshop and residence building in İstiklâl Avenue in Beyoğlu, which he designed for the sultan's Dutch fashion tailor M. Jean Botter, represents a turning point in D’Aronco's architecture. This Art Nouveau design in the avant-garde mood of the period compounded D’Aronco's already enviable reputation. While living in Graz at fourteen, he had also found the chance to follow the Austrian Secession more closely than most of his compatriots. Around the same time, he won the Turin International Exhibition of Decorative Arts design competition, which carried his fame into the international sphere. The tiny mescid (little mosque) of Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Paşa, which stood in Karaköy until modernization projects swept it away in 1958, was another work of