Nişantaşı is an area known for its wealth, not just in terms of its residents, but also in fashion, design and gastronomy. All along its backstreets, where old neoclassical apartment buildings impress with their grand entryways and façades, you’ll find the boutiques of local designers, high-end cafes and restaurants as well as beautiful bookstores and art galleries. The neighborhood of the wellheeled was first settled by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I in the mid-19th century and the neoclassical Teşvikiye Police Station and neo-baroque Teşvikiye Mosque, which he commissioned, stand to this day. Its first residents were the high-ranking cadres of the Ottoman court and bureaucracy. Starting with 1930s and onwards, old Otttoman mansions were replaced by apartment buildings, mostly becoming occupied by the growing numbers of the republican elite and intelligentsia.