Known during the Byzantine period as the Stavros (Cross) Gardens, this area later came to be known as Beylerbeyi because Mehmed Pasha, the Beylerbeyi (provincial governor) of Rumeli, owned a seaside mansion here. The site of the Beylerbeyi Palace was previously home to a number of other buildings. In 1829, Sultan Mahmud II had a wooden palace built there, but it was largely destroyed by fire in 1851. Sultan Abdülaziz ordered that the remaining parts be torn down and had the current building constructed in 1861–1865. Its architect was Sarkis Balyan. The palace originally consisted of a complex spread over a large area; however, parts of it were destroyed during the construction of the First Bosphorus Bridge, and other parts were either destroyed or modified when put to various uses. The palace was used during both the Ottoman and the Republican periods to house royal guests and visiting heads of state. Sultan Abdülhamid II, who was deposed in 1908, spent his final years (1912–1918) and died there. The Beylerbeyi Palace is now under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of National Palaces of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.