Identification of Bakirköy's cultural assets, presentation and conservation project

A cultural master plan and a conservation project has been produced at the end of this thesis, which is aiming to present Bakırköy's cultural assets to society and protect them. The study of thesis started with research of the settlements historical development. During the Roman-Byzantine era, it has been seen that Bakırköy's historical thrive had ups and downs, according to the capitals wealth and power. A.D. 4th and 6th centuries were the periods when the power of Constantinople rose. In that period, the majestic military and administrative buildings, notable churches and monasteries were built in the settlement, which was named as Hebdomon. The settlement was a suburb of the Constantinople, situated on the empires Rome-Constantinople road, Via Egnatia and its name, which was meaning "seventh", was coming after that, Hebdomon was on the seventh Roman Mile from the Million in Constantinople. Million, a stone monument, was a Roman heritage in Constantinople and representing the beginning of the roads at the capital city of the empire. At the end of the 6th century, Hebdomon were thrived where the Jucudianae situated and Justinian payed great effort to make the neighbourhood as beautiful as it is at the Great Palace of Constantinople. However as any suburb, Hebdomon was also less defensive during a siege and it was plundered and burned down many times by Bulgarians, Arabs and Avars. It was not only the enemies, but also the earthquakes damaged the suburb. As the wealth and power of the capital went down, the suburb was deprived from maintenance and attention of the empire. So at the last ages of the Byzantine Empire, its notable name was forgotten and it was called "Makro Hori"(Long Village). At the 13th century, after the Latin Invasion was over, even holly places were turned into fold for sheep and the suburb was all ruined. Makro Hori, with a two kilometres long shore, had become a fisherman's village as the Ottomans was settled in Istanbul. In the Ottoman era, the name of the suburb became "Makriköy", (Remote Village) a derived name from Greek word Makri (remote) and Turkish word Köy (Village). Until 18th century, in Makriköy nothing has changed dramatically but Muslims has started to settle next to Greeks. The oldest Ottoman building known according to the archive records, "Çarşı Camii" was built at the 17th century. In the 17th century, powdery was situated inside the city walls and close to neighbourhood. By accidents, people and the buildings got great damages. After a great explosion in 1698, it was decided to move the Istanbul's powdery out of the town. For the new powdery, it was decided to build it in Makriköy, where it would be far from housings and next to the see and a river so that it can be benefit by water transportation. Makriköy Powdery was one of the most strategical industry facilities of its time and pulled a great attention to the so called "Remote Village". At the 19th century, Armenians came to the important positions at Ottoman industry and Dadyan Family was one of those, which its members were making good effort in the powdery. So Armenian people started to settle in Makriköy and the suburb was becoming more attractive for Ottoman State and people. First Armenian church, Surp Astvazazin Armenian Church was built in 1840 for the powdery workers and a school next to it for the children of those workers. Until the end of the 19th century one Greek and one Latin Catholic churches and many education institutions were built in Makriköy. In the Republican period, the settlement took its modern name, Bakırköy at 1925. The industrial facilities continued production by technical updates and increase in number. At the same place with the old Fabric Factory, Sümerbank, modern textile industry cooperation, has built a new clothing factory that was designed by the architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem. At the 1950's, as the people started to move to the cities from the country side, population of the settlement grew rapidly. Many new industrial sites occurred and also the dwelling demand. Since from the very beginning of the 1950's traditional dwelling fabric damaged a lot and 4-5 stock apartment invade almost anywhere in Bakırköy. However in the year 1957, Ataköy Project has been founded in Bakırköy., one of the first planned sites of the modern Turkey's urban history. For sure it was the biggest mass dwelling project. The project was sold to the people by social loans and first customers were officers in public services. At 1966 İş Bankası Apartmans were built in a similar but much more smaller scale. However, these efforts were far a away from Bakırköy's dwelling request. The result was that the Osmaniye district became Istanbul's third slum area. Although Bakırköy's cultural heritage and urban identity have a long history and a rich content, they face the threat of destruction in today's urbanization process. Cultural assets that are decreasing users and visitors day by day will disappear if there will not be conservation. Although coastline of Bakırköy has been declared as a "culture and tourism area" after the moving of industrial buildings, there appeared several block-sized luxury projects. Smaller scale residential parcels are transforming within the scope of "Urban Transformation" and some of the historical buildings, which are reached today, are abandoned. By examining the study area, the current situation of the historical buildings was identified and inventory fiches were formed. At the end of field studies and analyses, a conservation scenario was developed within the framework of the cultural master plan and in this scenario also conservation proposals were formed. Bakırköy Conservation Project has been developed in this way on the urban scale. At the scenario, the financial basis of the project was supported by the public sources, mostly depending on to the %10 cut off of dwelling taxes. As a social responsibility, therefore, except the project buildings with users inside, there is a public usage suggestion for the abandoned buildings. There are also building in the project area that were put up for sale. According to the architectural plan and location of the building in the project site, a rental proposal has been developed. In this proposal, it was expected that new users, especially from middle classes experience living in a traditional house. In the scenario, municipality would be the householder and responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the houses. For the public usage, house-museums, museums, youth and education centres, locals-club buildings were concerned. In such a process, cultural assets of Bakırköy have been brought to public attention and production of protection project has gained more importance. The project has been designed according to the related regulations and it is planned to be expanded in a sustainable way. After the completion of the thesis work, the anticipation is that Bakırköy forms a basis for the detailed studies to be carried out on the protection of urban identity and cultural assets.