The perception of traditional Ottoman domestic architecture as a category of historic heritage and a source of inspiration for architectural practice (1909-1931)

Abstract

The subject of traditional domestic architecture gained a remarkable place in Ottoman-Turkish "historic heritage ideology" during the early decades of the twentieth century. In this period, several researchers analyzed this category of historic architecture and emphasized the necessity of the conservation of its valuable examples. The agenda of creating a new national idiom in residential architecture based on the forms and characteristics of the historic tradition had developed in this context and paved the way for the "National Architecture Seminar" initiated by Sedad Hakki Eldem at the Academy of Fine Arts in 1932. The newly rising interest in domestic architecture in the sphere of architectural historiography appears as a reflection of the growing inclination towards the "antiquarian" mode of historical imagination which focuses on everyday lives of ordinary people in the past rather than major historical events. In addition, the idea of following the model of historic residential architecture was largely related to the desire to preserve a link with the traditional everyday life and its material elements which were imagined as expressions of the "national essence." On the other hand, this agenda of revival was also closely connected to the spreading concern for patronage in the field of residential architecture. The roles of the rise of antiquarianism and the architectural patronage of the middle class reveal that the main dynamics of this trend were sensibilities and concerns of broader circles of society rather than official cultural policies.