On May 31, 1882, a kindergarten entered into service in the same building. The building was seriously damaged after the earthquake on July 10, 1894 which caused the requirement to search for a new location for the school. In the first years the school was accepting only German-speaking students. In 1879, Bericht von Felix Theodor Mühlmann, the principal, the preparatory school which allowed the registration of non-German-speaking students. The construction of the new school building -which is the current one- started in June 1896, with the support of master architect Kapp von Gültstein and the Ottoman Bank Director Wülfing. On September 14, 1897, the school moved to the new building which contained 15 classes and a conference hall. The official license for the school was issued on January 9, 1897. The German Emperor Wilhelm II, during his visit of Istanbul in 1898, also visited the school and gave it the license to issue the German high school diploma, which made Deutsche Schule Istanbul the first school that was granted the license to issue the German high school diploma outside of Germany. The total number of students between 1893-1903 was 600, by 1916, the number of students was 1,000. In 1903, the two-storied section of the school building was built. By the order of the Ottoman government the school was issued a new license on December 27, 1911 with which it was henceforth considered to be at the same level with Ottoman high schools ("idadi"). The total number of students was 600 between 1893-1903, and by 1916, the number of students reached to 1,000. After World War I, the school was closed and the building was used by the French occupation forces as barracks. During that period, almost all the inventory of the school was destroyed.