Transformation, structural analysis and preservation concerns of Grand Bazaar's Çadırcılar Street hans

In this study, the transformation of Çadırcılar Street, which had been situated inside the boundaries of the Grand Bazaar until the 1894 Earthquake and was then decided to be left out of the Bazaar boundaries during post-earthquake rehabilitations, and the transformation of the Hans that can be directly accessed from Çadırcılar Street are discussed; their structural preservation statuses are analyzed and conservation principles are portrayed both in urban and single building scale regarding these analyses. For this purpose, the historical journey of Çadırcılar Street and its Hans are enlightened with the help of archive documents, written sources, old maps and photographs, thus their transformations throughout the time are aimed to be documented; thereafter, each Han is individually analyzed in terms of its spatial characteristics, structural characteristics, construction method and material characteristics. There are six Hans which can be accessed directly from the Çadırcılar Street: Bodrum Han, Ali Paşa Han, Camili (Yüncü) Han, Lütfullah (Paçavracı) Han, Güllekeş (Kelle Kesen) Han and Sarnıçlı Han. Regarding these six Hans, two of them, Güllekeş (Kelle Kesen) Han and Lütfullah (Paçavracı) Han were completely destroyed during the 1894 Earthquake and no particular detail regarding their genuine structure is extant from past to present. In the place of these two Hans, insignificant reinforced concrete buildings were built with the original courtyard scheme.