x0x ART NOUVEAU ARCHITECTURE IN ISTANBUL
Turkish Radio Hour
By CLAUDINE STEFANN*
Under European influence Art Nouveau began to make an impression on
the architecture of the Ottoman capital of Istanbul in the second half
of the 19th century, and until the mid-1920s widely affected the
appearance of the city.
It inspired the Turkish National Architecture movement, and even today
its traces persist as one of the defining characteristics of those
decades. Although Art Nouveau was at first regarded by the
intellectuals of the time as a pretentious affectation imported from
Europe, the movement had soon integrated with Turkey's own
architectural tradition.
Art Nouveau was first introduced to Istanbul by the Italian architect
Raimondo d'Aronco, and his designs reveal that he drew freely on
Byzantine and Ottoman decoration for his inspiration. D'Aronco made
creative use of the forms and motifs of Islamic architecture to create
modern buildings for the city.
Art Nouveau architecture in Istanbul is characterised not only by
structural forms, but in the motifs of stonework, woodwork, wrought
iron and glass. To live in an Art Nouveau style building at that time
was an expression of social status and modernism.
The districts of Galata and Pera (today Beyoglu), with their large
shops, tramway, smartly dressed inhabitants and European way of life
were where the new style of architecture first took root, and today
the loveliest examples of Istanbul Art Nouveau are still to be seen on
Istiklal Caddesi.
After a terrible fire which destroyed much of the area, Europeans
began to construct apartment buildings with shops and offices on the
ground floors on the empty land. One of the lessons taught by the fire
was that in such densely built up areas, stone was a safer building
material. Examples of this stone architecture can still be seen in
Karakoy, Sisli and Eminonu.
For the traditional Turkish houses separated by gardens, however, no
such precaution was required, and wood continued to be used for the
most part. Art Nouveau was the perfect way to fulfil the desire to
individualise one's house; a concept that had long since been embraced
by the Ottomans. As a result the new art soon began to make itself
felt in the grandiose wooden houses built along the European and Asian
shores of the Bosphorus, in Uskudar, in Kadikoy, and on the island of
Buyukada.
One of the principal ways in which Art Nouveau made itself felt was in
the facades. These featured bay windows, balconies, loggias and other
features jutting from the facade. Such articulation was particularly
striking when applied to corner buildings, as we see in Flora Han, an
office building in Sirkeci. In some cases, as in the Frej Apartment
Building, the protruding elements were placed to either side of the
facade, or with a defining element extending right across it, as we
see on the Botter House on Istiklal Caddesi.
At the same time these features have distinctive decoration which
makes them independent entities as well as focal points in the facade
as a whole. Wooden houses often had a central bay window right above
the entrance, rising for two or even three storeys to culminate in a
balcony or loggia.
Stone houses, on the other hand, usually had an elaborately decorated
cornice along the top storey, at which level the absence of
projections or withdrawal of the facade is immediately evident. The
bay window is not merely an element of the facade, but a means of
creating additional space. This use of projection from the facade to
create space is a traditional feature of architecture in the Muslim
countries.
Floriate motifs emphasising empty and full areas on the facade were
among the most distinctive characteristics of Art Nouveau buildings,
and in complete harmony with traditional Ottoman art.
The most common motif of this kind is the rose, which is to be seen on
the facades of many buildings in Pera and Galata. Roses as both buds
and in full bloom are to be seen on Flora Han, for instance, or as
entwined scrolling branches with thorns at the entrance of the Botter
House.
Art Nouveau transforms wood into delicate and fragile lace, and such
decoration can generally be seen in the form of friezes on the houses
of this period along the Bosphorus and on Buyukada. The most beautiful
examples of such carved decoration are at Hidiv Kasri, the exquisite
country house built for the khedive of Egypt on a hilltop overlooking
the Asian shore of the Bosphorus.
Doors, bannisters, entrance gates and balconies are adorned with
wrought iron. The loveliest examples of Art Nouveau stained glass are
those of the Botter House and the Marquise Tea Room.
Many Art Nouveau buildings still grace Istanbul today with their
sensitive and graceful forms. Discovering this aspect of the urban
landscape is a delight for visitors to the city. l
* Claudine Stefann is an architect.