Historic Building sights in Turkey
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Çiçek Pasajı
Back when promenading down the Rue de Pera (now İstiklal Caddesi) was the height of fashion, the Cité de Pera building was İstanbul's most glamorous address. Built in 1876 and decorated in Second Empire style, it housed a shopping arcade and apartments. The arcade is now known as the Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage) and is full of boistrous meyhanes (taverns).
As Pera declined in the mid-20th century, so too did this building. Its once-stylish shops gave way to rough meyhanes where beer barrels were rolled out onto the pavement, marble slabs were balanced on top, wooden stools were arranged and enthusiastic revellers caroused the night away. It continued in this vein…
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Patisserie Lebon
In Pera's heyday, there was no more glamorous spot to see and be seen than Patisserie Lebon. Its gorgeous art nouveau interior featured chandeliers, a decorative tiled floor and large tiled wall panels designed by Alexandre Vallaury, the architect of the Pera Palace Hotel. Though now sadly functioning as a fast-food joint, much of its interior has been retained.
The patisserie is one of the best-loved buildings in Beyoğlu, as much for its history as for its interior design. After decades as the Lebon, the business was taken over by Avedis Çakır in 1940 and renamed Patisserie Markiz. It continued to trade until the 1960s, when Pera's decline and a lack of customers led to…
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Pera Palace Hotel
The Pera Palas was a project of Georges Nagelmackers, the Belgian entrepreneur who linked Paris and Constantinople with his famous Orient Express train service. The 1892 building has undergone a €23-million restoration in recent years and claims to have regained its position as İstanbul's most glamorous hotel. Its bar, patisserie, tea lounge and restaurant are open to the public.
Nagelmackers founded the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et Grands Express Européens in 1868. The Orient Express service first operated in 1883 and Nagelmackers soon realised that İstanbul had no suitably luxurious hotels where his esteemed passengers could stay. His solution was to…
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Palace of Constantine Porphyrogenitus
Though only a shell these days, the remnants of this Byzantine palace give a good idea of how it would have looked in its heyday. Built in the late 13th or early 14th century, the large three-storied structure may have been an annex of the nearby imperial Palace of Blachernae, of which few traces exist today.
The building's later uses were not so regal: after the Conquest it functioned in turn as a menagerie for exotic wild animals, a brothel, a poorhouse for destitute Jews and a pottery.
The structure was undergoing restoration works at the time of research. When these are completed an entry fee may be levied.
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Atatürk Villa
Escape the city at the Atatürk Villa, 5km southwest of Atatürk Alanı. Set above Trabzon in a forested neighbourhood, the three-storey white villa has fine views and lovely gardens. Designed in a Black Sea style popular in the Crimea, it was built between 1890 and 1903 for a wealthy Trabzon banking family, and given to Atatürk when he visited in 1924. It's now a museum of Atatürk memorabilia. Don't miss the simple table in the study with a map of the WWI Dardanelles campaign scratched into the wood.
City buses labelled 'Köşk' leave from outside the post office and drop you outside the villa (TL1.25). Don't get out at the stop that says 'Atatürk Köşk 200m'. The actual…
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Yeşil Türbe
In a cypress-trimmed park surrounding the mosque is Yeşil Türbe, the mausoleum of Mehmed I Çelebi (and several of his children). During his short rule (1413-21), the fifth Ottoman sultan re-united a fractured empire following the Mongols' 1402 invasion. Despite its name, the türbe isn't green (the blue Kütahya tiles outside postdate an 1855 earthquake). The structure has a sublime, simple beauty, the original interior tiles exemplifying 15th century decor. There's also an impressive tiled mihrab.
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Kızılkule
This five-storey octagonal defence tower, measuring nearly 30m in diameter, more than 30m in height and with a central cistern within for water storage, looms over the harbour at the lower end of İskele Caddesi. Constructed in 1226 by Seljuk Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I (who also built the fortress), it was the first structure erected after the Armenian-controlled town surrendered to the sultan. There's a small ethnographic museum here and some 85 steps lead to a roof terrace with views of the harbour. To the south is the only Seljuk-built tersane (shipyard) remaining in Turkey.
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Mahperi Hunat Hatun Complex
Among Kayseri's distinctive features are several important building complexes that were founded by Seljuk queens and princesses, including the austere-looking Mahperi Hunat Hatun Complex. It comprises the Mahperi Hunat Hatun Camii (1238), built by the wife of Alaattin Keykubat; the Hunat Hatun Medresesi (1237); and a hamam, which is still in use.
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Hazeranlar Konağı
Just past the steps up to the Pontic Tombs is the Hazeranlar Konağı, constructed in 1865 and restored in 1979. The restored rooms are fully furnished in period style and have models to illustrate their use.
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Gazi Köşkü
About 1km south of the Mardin Kapısı, the Gazi Köşkü is a fine example of the sort of Diyarbakır house to which its wealthier citizens would retire in high summer. The house dates from the time of the 15th-century Akkoyunlu Turkoman dynasty and stands in a well-tended park. The caretaker will expect a tip for showing you around.
To get there, it's a pleasant, if rather isolated, downhill walk. Taxis charge TL15.
About 1km further south is the 11th-century On Gözlu Köprüsü (Ten-Eyed Bridge).
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Caferağa Medresesi
This lovely little building tucked away in the shadows of Aya Sofya was designed by Sinan on the orders of Cafer Ağa, Süleyman the Magnificent's chief black eunuch. Built in 1560 as a school, it is now home to a cultural organisation teaching and promoting traditional Turkish handicrafts. It has a pleasant lokanta and çay bahçesi (tea garden) in the courtyard.
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Atatürk Evi
During İzmir's 19th-century heyday the kordon was lined with stately offices and fine houses. Built by a carpet merchant, this is perhaps the city's best preserved residence. Atatürk stayed here intermittently between 1930 and 1934.
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Hüsnü Züber Evi
A short walk uphill behind the Sultan Murat II Hamam (follow the signs) brings you to the restored Ottoman Hüsnü Züber Evi. Like the Ottoman House it's sporadically staffed, but worth a try anyway.
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Şurkav
If you're keen to admire the local architecture, pop into the Şurkav, a local government building near the entrance to Hotel Edessa, where the courtyard is draped with greenery.
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Atatürk Evi
This small, originally furnished Ottoman-era house was where Kemal Atatürk stayed when he visited Kayseri.
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İl Özel İdaresi Kültür ve Sanat Merkezi
North of the market area, in the neighbourhood called Beykapı Mahallesi (take 1001 Sokak), have a look for this splendid house, restored in 2002. It was once a church.
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Sultan Murat II Hamam
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Muradiye Medresesi
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İlköğretim Okulu
This stately building now houses a school.
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Esma Ocak Evi
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Alay Köşkü
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Şıra Hanı
On the southwestern edge of the bazaar, the beautifully restored Şıra Hanı is the location of the stylish Sahan restaurant.
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Post Office
Turkey's most impressive former post office is housed in a 17th-century caravanserai covered with carvings, including teardrops in stone dripping down the walls. At the time of writing, the building was being diligently restored and was due to reopen in 2013.
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Irgandı Sanat Köprüsü
Across the river, north of the Setbaşı road bridge, this restored Ottoman structure houses shops, cafes and touristy artisans' workshops.
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