Ihlamur and Küçüksu Pavilions in İstanbul

This thesis on Ihlamur (1849?1855) and Küçüksu (1856?1857) pavilions, built by architect Nigoğos Balyan in the time of Sultan Abdülmecid I (b.1823?r.1839-d.1861), researches on the subject of brief environmental histories, garden arrangements, architectural designs, decoration programmes, construction material and technics of these buildings.The objective of this study by reviewing these buildings that survived current day is to complete a reseach on the determination of their positions and emphasizing their importance among Ottoman pavilions and kiosks of the last period with the aid of visual and written archive material.During the process called ?Westernization?, the 19th century was a period which witnessed interne effects of Western values on art and culture as well as social, political, economic, military fields. The first visible frame of Westernization comprised the consumption of Western goods and the use of Western forms in architecture and painting. The striking point is that the change movements, continued and ensued during the 19th century, arised from the Palace. The Palace was also the source of the movement for social changes. The desires of Ottoman sultans and bureaucrats for Westernization and making the state regain its old glory caused a set of movements improving the construction in İstanbul and early applications in architecture of effects had being moved to İstanbul through them made theirself appear in achitecture of palaces, pavilions and kiosks naturally.Since the time of Sultan Ahmed III. (b.1673-r.1703-d.1736), the administration of the city, its institutions and organizations had been replaced by their adapted European examples and a set of new building styles which were suitable for contemporary and Western lifestyle had been developed.Thus, with the arrival of the 18th century, certain types of architecture all of which were handled with a similar, specific Western orientated style and design criterion had begun to shape İstanbul?s silhouette. The wish for certain types of palaces, pavilions, kiosks etc. which would be in conformity with Western taste and lifestyle that was expressed by the sultans, had eventually caused employment opportunities for the architects of European origin and non-Muslim like Balyan family, who both knew a lot about Europe in general and being brought up in an Ottoman way. The Western styles, which were adapted, were blended in by local architects in an authentic manner, however it was the foreign architects who actually had applied the new forms of building types.During the last period European influences had been largely felt, in İstanbul architectural pluralism had become dominant and this evolution was not as a result of a general design, rather was formed by gathering together pieces. Architectural transformation, which occured slowly in a long time period, carried an eclectic order. What is observed in Ihlamur and Küçüksu pavilions which were built parallel to the movement of modernization in this period, is the diversity in architectural styles and preferences. In addition to the baroque, rococo, empir, neoclassical etc. styles, eclectic style was among the elements of these buildings in the middle of the century. Western influence can be felt easily also in furniture and other decorative items used in the buildings. Foreign artists were consulted for their tastes and knowledge on decorational matters, in addition various furnitures and were brought in from Europe, The enforced change with the Western effects is manifested on the front, the interior decoration and the ornamentation. The main differences allocated from the old samples remained on decoration level and architectural scale or on the other surface of buildings and the ornaments. The reason for this is that, the ornamentation in those buildings were made by improting purely European styles and examples. They didn?t broke off the tradition in their plan organization and stuck to the plan with middle sofa-room called ?karnıyarık? in accordance to the classical Turkish architecture.When these buildings are examined carefully, it is seen that one side an effort to make ancient traditions survive by applying the type of plan around to sofas in traditional Turkish house, and on the other side there was also a Western oriented manner.In conclusion, the changes which stemmed from Ottoman Palace influenced the society, the city, the architecture, in other words the whole life of Ottomans. However, these changes which were under the influence of new techologies and impact of Western architectural images had been copied superficially and remained oriental and traditional in its esence. Consequently, the 19 th century architecture must been evaluated in its own historical frame.Key Words1.Ottoman2.Westernization3.İstanbul4.Pavilion & Kiosk5.Civil Architecture