The Ottoman pavilion was said to represent a palace on the Bosphorus. Beside it stood a reproduction of the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed, and its domes and minarets were, in Todd's phrase, "suggestive of the Orient." It was designed by the Armenian architect Zenas N. Matteossian of Constantinople, trained at MIT and the École des Beaux-Arts, with E. T. Foulkes as local architect. It was built on his own responsibility by the Adjutant High Commissioner, Vahan Cardashian, who was born in Armenia and was an American citizen; the war had stopped Turkey's appropriation.
Inside were Oriental goods for sale: rugs, Damascus pierced brass, more than fifty paintings, shawls, lace, perfume and tobacco. During the fair Muslims came here to worship. At the dedication on April 30, 1915, the building was given to the use of the whole world "irrespective of race, creed, or nationality." It was the first dedication the German and Austrian consuls attended officially. It came six days after the Ottoman government began the mass arrests of Armenians in Constantinople on April 24, 1915, the start of the Armenian genocide.
