Client / Sponsor: Athanasios and Marina Martinos Foundation
Owner: Kadıköy Greek Orthodox Community (Metropolis of Chalcedon)
Project Management (PMO & PMC) & Engineer of the Project: Penelis Consulting Engineers S.A., on behalf of the Athanasios and Marina Martinos Foundation
Contractor: Babil Restorasyon
Location: Kalamış, Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey

The Greek Orthodox Church of Saint John Chrysostom (Ayios Ioannis Chrysostomos) stands opposite the Kalamış marina in Kadıköy, ancient Chalcedon, on the Asian shore of Istanbul. Built in 1875 for the small fishing community of Fenerbahçe–Kalamış and belonging to the Metropolis of Chalcedon, it is a modest three-aisle timber-roofed basilica of rubble-stone and brick masonry, about 17.7 × 11.2 m in plan, with a narthex, a western women’s gallery, six timber columns carrying barrel-vaulted ceilings and baroque-profiled gables. Early Byzantine fragments kept in the narthex recall the much older Christian presence on the site.

When the Athanasios and Marina Martinos Foundation undertook the restoration, the church was in an advanced state of decay. Investigations after the removal of plasters showed decayed and worm-eaten roof timbers, roof members poorly seated on or detached from the walls, cracking at the wall corners and tie-rod anchorages, and a slender, poorly connected narthex partition — clear signs of out-of-plane vulnerability. The building had been placed under a temporary protective roof and internal shoring.

Scope of works

• Structural strengthening: steel ring beams (UPN profiles) anchored along the wall heads inside and out, new 50 × 50 mm forged-steel tie rods, flat steel bands set into the masonry courses, crack stitching, double-sided reinforcement of the east and west gables and deep repointing with hydraulic-lime (horasan) mortar.
• Roof and vaults: complete reconstruction of the timber roof in kiln-dried, impregnated pine with bolted steel connectors, insulation and new tiles, and reconstruction of the lath-and-plaster barrel vaults on laminated plywood ribs.
• Architecture: removal of later additions, restoration of facades, cornices and windows, new marble floors, drainage and a paved forecourt; repair of the painted interior decoration and re-making of the woodwork and furnishings — iconostasis, ambo, bishop’s throne, proskynetaria and stalls.
• Services: new electrical installation, lighting and heating/cooling systems.

Penelis role

Acting for the Foundation as its sole representative, Penelis Consulting Engineers served as Project Manager under an NEC4 Engineering and Construction Short Contract, administering the contract, reviewing and approving progress and variations, and supervising the works, with Dr Gregory Penelis as Engineer of the project. Works on site resumed in March 2025 and the restored church was completed in February 2026, returning a carefully conserved 19th-century parish church to the Kadıköy community.

The restored church

Condition before the works

Structural strengthening and roof reconstruction