The kiosk can be defined as an open summer-house or pavillion usually having its roof supported by pillars with screened or totally open walls. As a building type it was first introduced by the Seljuks as a small building attached to the main mosque, which consisted of a domed hall with open arched sides. This architectural concept gradually evolved into a small yet grand residence used by Ottoman sultans, the most famous examples of which are quite possibly the Chinili Kiosk ("Çinili Kösk" in Turkish) and Baghdad Kiosk ("Bagdat Köskü" in Turkish). The former was built in 1473 by Mehmed II ("the Conqueror") at the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, and consists of a two storey building topped with a dome and having open sides overlooking the gardens of the palace. The Baghdad Koshk was also built at the Topkapi Palace in 1638-39, by Sultan Murad IV. The building is again domed, offering direct views onto the gardens and park of the Palace as well as the architecture of the city of Istanbul.

Sultan Ahmed III (1703-1730) also built a glass room of the Sofa Kiosk at the Topkapi Palace incorporating some Western elements, such as the gilded brazier designed by the elder John Claude Duplessis which was given to the Ottoman Ambassador by King Louis XV of France.

The first English contact with Turkish Kiosk came through Lady Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul, who in a letter written in 1 April 1717 to Anne Thistlethwayte, mentions a “chiosk” describing it as "raised by 9 or 10 steps and enclosed with gilded lattices" (Halsband, 1965 ed.). Historic sources confirm the transfer of these kiosks to European monarchs.

Stanislaw Leszczynski, king of Poland and father-in-law of Louis XV, built kiosks for himself based on his memories of his captivity in Turkey. These kiosks were used as garden pavilions serving coffee and beverages but later were converted into band stands and tourist information stands decorating most European gardens, parks and high streets.