The Ferruh Kethüda Mosque is a minor work of Sinan. It was built in 1562-3 by Ferruh Ağa, who was Kethüda (Steward) of the Grand Vezir Semiz Ali Paşa. It is a simple rectangle, with currently a flat concrete ceiling that probably was made of wood when first built, with a dome that is gone also. A deep porch may have been impressive, but being glazed in and having lost its columns it is pedestrian now. The mihrab has tiles from the Tekfur Saray works.

I quote from the Strolling through Istanbul guidebook, which calls this the handsomest and most interesting of Sinan’s many mosques of this simple type, “and it deserves a more sympathetic restoration”. Elsewhere I had just seen how another Sinan small mosque, Şah Sultan, looked part-demolished: the roof had been taken off, the walls were partly taken away. I think a “more sympathetic restoration”, that is: restoring towards what one knew was the original plan, was being undertaken. It looked dismal, but the result may be an improvement. I hope to check in a few years (and then may find the Ferruh Kathüda undergoing a similar fate). In its current condition I liked the general impression it made (a bit too many tiles, wherever one looked: tiles, tiles), but it did not ring any Sinan bells.