Located at No. 130, İstiklal Avenue, in the Asmalımescit neighborhood of Beyoğlu, the Elhamra Arcade is a one of a series of attached buildings. In his İstanbul Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopedia of İstanbul), Reşad Ekrem Koçu writes that it was commissioned in 1920–1922 by a businessman named Said Adapazarlı. The name of its architect is unkown, although the manager of the Elhamra building and arcade says that he was Italian. One of İstanbul’s oldest and most beautiful cinemas, known by the same name as the arcade, is located here. According to the maps produced by the Goad insurance company, the Kristal theater was located at the same spot before the Elhamra was built. The poet and essayist Salah Birsel wrote that the Palais de Crystal, one of the famous café-chantants of the Hamidian period, was situated here. An 80 per cent share of the building is owned today by the heirs of Cevat Adapazarlı, the son of Said Adapazarlı. It is certified by the High Commission on Monuments as a historically significant, protected structure.