Raymond Charles Péré (1854–1929) was a French architect, who was born at Roquefort-de-Marsan in the Landes, France, and arrived originally as a French teacher in 1880 at Smyrna (Izmir), married Anaïs Russo there and spent the rest of his life in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. He is best remembered as the designer of the

İzmir Clock Tower İzmir Clock Tower () is a historic clock tower located at the Konak Square in the Konak district of İzmir, Turkey. It is considered as the main landmark of the city. History Kâmil Pasha, the then-Governor of Aidin Vilayet, held a meeting w ...

, the landmark of İzmir situated in the city's

Konak Square Konak Square () is a busy square at the southern end of Atatürk Avenue in the Konak district of İzmir, Turkey. The square is named after the '' Vali Konağı'' (Governor's Mansion) of İzmir Province, which is located here ('' konak'' means ' ...

Early life

He was born in 1854 at

Roquefort, Landes Roquefort (; ) is a commune in the Landes department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. Population Transport Between 1907 and 1934, Roquefort was the terminus of the long gauge Chemin de fer Économiques Forestiers des Landes ...

, France, to Jean Jacques Péré and his wife Marie Pargade. He married Anaïs Russo, the daughter of a prominent Levantine family of Italian from İzmir. They had ten children named Ferdinand, Pierre, Charles, Henriette, Bernard, François, Marie, Michel, Joseph and Louis.

Works

TR Izmir asv2020-02 img30 Konak Clock Tower

Péré was commissioned to design a

clock tower Clock towers are a specific type of structure that house a turret clock and have one or more clock faces on the upper exterior walls. Many clock towers are freestanding structures but they can also adjoin or be located on top of another building ...

in commemoration of the silver anniversary of Ottoman Sultan

Abdülhamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a period of decline wit ...

's (reigned 1876–1909) ascent to the throne. Completed in 1901, the structure of height with

North African North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

inspired motifs is the landmark of the city today. Péré's other important work is the Church of St. Helen in

Karşıyaka Karşıyaka () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 51 km2, and its population is 346,264 (2022). The district extends for twelve kilometres along the northern and eastern coastline of the tip of the Gulf of ...

district of

. It was built with the permission of the sultan in 1904 in "

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

" style on land donated by a prominent Levantine, Nicola Aliotti. He performed also the stained-glass work and added statues of the relevant saints in the interior. The church served the district's

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

community.

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's former prime minister

Édouard Balladur Édouard Balladur (; born 2 May 1929) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France under François Mitterrand from 29 March 1993 to 17 May 1995. He unsuccessfully ran for president in the 1995 French presidential election, co ...

(in office between 1993–1995), was born in Karşıyaka in 1929 and baptized in this church. He is also the architect of one of İzmir's first hospitals, which was built in 1908 as an annex to the French Hospital Complex following a restoration work. Recently, the building serves as the emergency room of the State Hospital in Alsancak. A building near the Köprü Mosque in the Quarantine Quarter of İzmir, known today as the Mansion, is considered to be Péré's work. The mansion was built for

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Mehmed Kamil Pasha Mehmed or Mehmet is the most common Turkish form of the Arabic male name Muhammad () (''Muhammed'' and ''Muhammet'' are also used, though considerably less) and gains its significance from being the name of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. Origina ...

(1833–1913), governor of İzmir from 1895 to 1907, as a Turkish interpretation of the "

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau ( ; ; ), Jugendstil and Sezessionstil in German, is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. It was often inspired by natural forms such as the sinuous curves of plants and ...

" style. Raymond Charles Péré made pencil drawings of the area including the French Catholic mission in İzmir, undertook the restoration of the Church of St. Polycarp, the oldest church in İzmir built in 1625, and made the church's interior wall paintings (

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es). Here, he put himself in the scene of a fresco called "The Martyrdom of St. Polycarp", depicting İzmir's bishop and guardian saint being murdered by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

s in 155 AD. Péré's daughter Marie is seen as Mary on a side wall painting known as the "Saint Anne and the infant Mary". In addition to his works as public buildings, Raymond Charles Péré is also known for creating architectural designs for some houses for Levantine families residing in Alsancak and

Buca Buca (, ) is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 178 km2, and its population is 522,404 (2022). It is the biggest district of İzmir Province as terms of population. It covers the southeastern part of the agglom ...

, even though it is not easy today to identify them.

Death

Péré died on October 15, 1929, in İzmir. After his death, his wife and children emigrated in 1929 to France.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pere, Raymond Charles 1854 births 1929 deaths Art Nouveau architects Gothic Revival architects 20th-century French architects French draughtsmen Smyrniote Levantines Turkish architects Turkish people of French descent French ecclesiastical architects French emigrants to the Ottoman Empire