Sir Edgar Vincent, after his appointment as the chief executive manager of the Ottoman Bank in 1889, envisioned a new headquarters building that would architecturally match the institution’s recently acquired power. This new building was commissioned in 1890 to Alexandre Vallaury, one of the most outstanding local architects of the time. A few days later, the bank’s gold reserve,1,500,000 liras weighing 13 tons, was transferred from the bank’s former vault in Saint Pirre Han to its new location. "Transfering the specie from the old bank to the new", The Graphic, June 1892