The house of the kaymakam Hifzi Bey is on the southern side of the old settlement of the Upper Town, on Romfei square (known best as Kule-Kafe neighborhood). The area around it was the Ottoman quarter of Iki Serife or Iki Serefeli, named after the minaret with the two balconies (serefe) which was added to the neighboring church of Archangels when the latter was converted to a mosque.

Hifzi Bey, military governor of Thessaloniki after the War of 1897 between Greece and the Ottoman Empire, built the house as a dwelling for himself when he settled in the city between 1897 and 1905. After 1917 it began to be a home for refugees. Later on it housed an elementary school, and between 1959 and 1978 it served as the premises of the 7th secondary and 7th upper schools of Thessaloniki.

The three-story building is a typical example of an urban double residence in the last years of the Ottoman period, but it is conspicuous for its broad facades enhanced with neaoclassical features. Inside, it is subdivided into two symmetrical houses, although outside it is uniform. On the main facade, the first and second floor s create a single projecting section (sahnisin) which rests on solid corbels. The openings are strictly symmetrical, while a characteristic feature is the symmetrical, semicircular terminations of the central rooms, which lend rhythm to the design of the facade.

The building is in very good condition, as it has been fully conserved and restored. Today, it houses the Public Library of the Upper Town on the ground floor and the Children's Library on the 1st floor.