Around Beyazit and Sehzadebas - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 182

Leaving the han, we turn left and continue along Fethi Bey Caddesi
for about 100 metres until it intersects Fevziye Caddesi; there we
veer right and continue for another 100 metres until we come to
Şehzadebaşı Caddesi, where we turn left. The broad avenue on which
we are now strolling follows the course of the ancient Mese, which
turned to the north-west after leaving the Forum Tauri. The modern
avenue takes its name from Şehzade Camii, the great mosque which
we see looming up ahead. Before we visit the mosque, however, let
us continue past it for a little way so as to look at two monuments of
some minor interest.
THE BELEDİYE AND THE MEDRESE OF ANKARAVI
MEHMET EFENDI
Just past Şehzade Camii on the left side of the avenue we see the
huge building of the Belediye, or Municipality, the headquarters of
the civil government of Istanbul. Erected in 1953, it is of the glass
and aluminium variety and not bad of its kind, except for a curious
arched excrescence on the lower part of the building which looks like
a hangar for airplanes. From the roof of the higher part, one has a
fine view of the surrounding district. Behind this building is the little
medrese of the Şeyh-ül Islam Ankaravı Mehmet Efendi, founded in
1707. This has recently been restored and is now used as part of the
Economics Faculty of the University. It is a small and attractively
irregular building, chiefly of red brick, with a long, narrow courtyard,
at the far end of which is the lecture-hall reached by a flight of steps.
BURMALİ CAMİ
Crossing now to the opposite side of Şehzadebaşı Caddesi, we find in
front of the west wall of the Şehzade precinct a pretty little mosque,
recently restored, called Burmali Cami. It was built about 1550 by the
Kadı (Judge) of Egypt, Emin Nurettin Osman Efendi. Although of
the very simplest kind - a square room with a flat wooden ceiling - it
has several peculiarities that give it a cachet of its own. Most noticeable
is the brick minaret with spiral ribs, from which the mosque gets its
name ( burmah = spiral); this is unique in Istanbul and is a late survival
of an older tradition, other examples of which are to be found at