Lonely Planet İstanbul Guide

the Ottoman timber house. Hamams were usually built as part of a külliye, and provided an important point of social contact as well as facilities for ablutions. Architecturally significant hamams include the Ayasofya Hürrem Sultan Hamamı, the Çemberlitaş Hamamı, the Cağaloğlu Hamamı and the Kılıç Ali Paşa Hamamı. All are still functioning.

Two family dynasties have played major roles in İstanbul’s architectural scene: the Balyans, who worked in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the Tabanlıoğlus, in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Wealthy Ottomans and foreign diplomats built many yalıs (waterside, usually timber, mansions) along the shores of the Bosphorus; city equivalents were sometimes set in a garden but were usually part of a crowded, urban streetscape. Unfortunately, not too many of these houses survive, a consequence of the fires that regularly raced through the Ottoman city.