Istanbul Guide

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Architecture Ottoman Revivalism & Modernism

Şakirin Mosque (p 160 ) in Üsküdar; designed by Hüsrev Tayla, with the interior design by Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu

these houses survive, a consequence of the fires that regularly raced through the Ottoman city. Ottoman Revivalism & Modernism In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, architects created a blend of European architecture alongside Turkish baroque, with some conces sions to classic Ottoman style. This style has been dubbed ‘Ottoman Revivalism’ or First National Architecture. The main proponents of this style were architects Vedat Tek (1873–1942) and Kemalettin Bey (1870–1927). Tek is best known for his Central Post Office in Sirkeci (1909) and Haydarpaşa İskelesi (Haydarpaşa Ferry Dock; 1915–17). Kemalettin Bey’s Bebek Mosque (1913) and Fourth Vakıf Han (1912–26), a bank building in Eminönü that now houses the Legacy Ottoman Hotel, are his best-known works. When Atatürk proclaimed Ankara the capital of the Republic, İstanbul lost much of its glamour and investment capital. Modern ism was played out on the new canvas of Ankara, while İstanbul’s dalliances went little further than the İstanbul City Hall in Fatih, designed by Nevzat Erol and built in 1953; the İstanbul Hilton Ho tel, designed by SOM and Sedad Hakkı Eldem and built in 1952; the Atatürk Library in Gümüşsuyu, also by Eldem; and the much maligned Atatürk Cultural Centre by Hayati Tabanlıoğlu, built from 1956 to 1957 and currently threatened with demolition as part of the redevelopment proposal for Gezi Park.