Istanbul Fatih district, which was named after Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (Turkish: "Fatih Sultan Mehmed"), corresponds to what was, until the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the whole of the city of Constantinople (today is the capital district and called the "historic peninsula" of Istanbul) on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, across the medieval Genoese citadel of Galata on the northern shore. The Genoese fortifications in Galata were largely demolished in the 19th century, leaving only the Galata Tower, to make way for the northward expansion of the city. Galata (Karaköy) is today a quarter within the Beyoğlu (Pera) district,
Galata Camondo Palace ("Kamondo Sarayı"), was built between 1865 and 1869 and designed by architect Sarkis Balyan. It is located on the northern shore of the Golden Horn, within the nearby Kasımpaşa quarter to the west of Galata. It later became the headquarters of the Ministry of the Navy ("Bahriye Nezareti") during the late Ottoman period, and is currently used by the Turkish Navy as the headquarters of the Northern Sea Area Command ("Kuzey Deniz Saha Komutanlığı"). The Camondo family also built two historic apartment buildings in Galata, both of which are named "Kamondo Apartmanı": the older one is located at