Kemaleddin Bey is the best-known practitioner of the style known as the First International Architecture which began at the end of the Ottoman period and continued into the first years of the Turkish Republic.

He finished his higher education at the Hendese-i Mülkiye Mektebi (School of Mathematical Engineering) where he studied under the German Kos, the Austrian Forcheimer and the German Jachmund. Sent to Istanbul to study Ottoman architecture, Jachmund was employed to design the Sirkeci Railway Station 1889-90 while Kemaleddin Bey was one of his students. As soon as he graduated, Kemaleddin Bey became an assistant to Jachmund and was influenced for a long time by the architecture of Sirkeci Station on which Jachmund was working at the time. His later designs for works such as Evkaf-ı Hümayûn Nezareti (Imperial Ministry for Pious Foundations) and the station at Edirne show this influence. He first began to design at the office he opened in 1891 while still a student and where he continued to work until 1905. Later works include the two mansions he built for Galip Bey among the hills at Rumelihisar, and other mansions and houses in different parts of Istanbul. Most of these initial constructions were built of wood and some of the other mansions he first designed were the ones for Halil Pasha and Ismail Pasha in Nisantasi and the Sultan Resad Kiosk in Ortakoy.

In 1895 he was sent by the state to Berlin to further his architectural studies. After studying at the Charlottenburg School of Technology for two years, he worked for another two-and-a-half years with various different architects. After returning to his homeland in 1900, he resumed his post at the Hendese-i Mülkiye. The following year he undertook the additional duty of architect for military buildings to the Ministry of War (Harbiye Nezareti Ebniye-i Askeriye). His understanding of national architecture first comes to light in the works he did during this period. The concept of Turkish nationhood which developed during the first years of the 20th century is seen in works of this period such as the tombs of, Ahmed Cevad Pasha and Gazi Osman Pasha, while features of the Classic Period of Ottoman architecture are reflected in the arrangement of the surface decoration. The last work of this productive period of Kemaleddin Bey's life is the large mansion he designed for Ahmed Râtip Pasha at Çamlıca before the Second Mesrutiyet period. This mansion is also his last architectural structure to be built of wood. It attracts attention in particular for its size and the hall with its splendid staircase, while at the same time its shape reflects the Art Nouveau style popular in the West and in Istanbul at that time.

Some of the works he designed during his most productive period between 1910 and 11 were seven large hans for the Ministry of Pious Foundations, and mosques in Bebek (1913), Kuloğlu, Bostancı (1913) and Kartaltepe, Bakırköy (1923-24) together with schools in Bostancı (İbrahim Paşa), Ayazma, and Eyup (Resadiye). Five of the hans were built in Istanbul and two in Ankara. It is known that during these years he also designed works such as schools and mosques for various towns thoughout the country.


In 1925 Kemaleddin Bey was appointed to the directorship of the Evkaf Muduriyet-i Umumiyesi Insaat ve Tamirat . While he was busy completing work on the Ankara Palace , he worked on designs for a public library to be established in Ankara, a farmhouse at Gazi Çiftliği for which the money would be provided by Atatürk, and new housing to be paid for by the Vakıflar. Although a section of this housing scheme was built on land below the Ankara Palace, ideas for a library and a farmhouse were abandoned. In the same period, he was commissioned to design the building for the Turk Ocagi but for some reason this was made into a closed competition. Among the designs for this by Vedat Bey , Kemaleddin Bey, Arif Hikmet Koyunoglu and Mongeri , the first prize went to Arif Hikmet Bey. When Kemaleddin Bey took up his post at the Evkaf Muduriyet-i Umumiye (General Headquarters for Pious Foundations) in 1926, in accordance with his duties he designed several Foundation houses, two hans and a primary school in Yenisehir, which was given his name after his death as well as, at Atatürk's request, a mosque for Çankaya in keeping with contemporary requirements. On behalf of the Nafia Vekâleti (Ministry for Public Works), he began designs for the General Headquarters of the State Railways to be built next to Ankara Railway Station. In 1927 he designed, on behalf of the Ministry of Education, the Gazi Teacher's College and in the same year made a design for city planning which aroused great criticism on account of its international style which was now beginning to show its influence. This work, which was completed in 1930 after the architect's death, marks the end of the period of First National Architecture. After this, the predominant in fluence in Turkish architecture was the international style put forward by foreign teachers of architecture in Turkey.


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