NIKI GAMM
What’s in a name? A summary tour of Istanbul reveals a wide array of ‘köşks,’ ‘yalıs,’ ‘kasırs’ and ‘konaks’ that often appear fairly similar to one another.Each, however, possesses some unique characteristics
Workers recently completed the renovation of Mirgün Köşkü, one of the latest old Ottoman buildings to undergo refurbishment.
This three-story structure was constructed about 150 years ago by the architect Alexandre Vallaury, who was also responsible for the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.
The building was not erected at the behest of the governor of Egypt, Khedive Ismail Paşa and was registered in 1932 as belonging to his grandson Mehmet Tahir Paşa.
This is hardly surprising when one thinks of all the building that the Egyptian rulers constructed on the Bosphorus from the old Egyptian consulate in Bebek and the Sakıp Sabancı Museum in Emirgan to the Mısır Apartments in Beyoğlu and the Hidiv Kasrı in Çubuklu. Mirgün Köşkü is named after artist Ahmet Mirgün who resided there in the 1900s and donated it to Istanbul University in 1985.
The Istanbul Provincial Administration handled the restoration work which began last September and cost more than 1 million dollars. But what makes this building a “köşk?” We’ve adopted the word into English as
kiosk and what comes to mind is a small temporary stall that sells newspapers and cigarettes and other small items. In Turkish, a kiosk is basically a small, one-story pavilion where one might serve a
feast or live for a short period of time. One thinks immediately of the Tile Köşk, a part of the
Istanbul Archaeology Museums complex, or the many köşks at Topkapı Palace itself.
Summer residences
The Ottomans took köşks one step further by using them suitable as summer residences along the shores of the Bosphorus. As time went by, the simple köşk became larger and larger but would never have been large enough to have been designated a palace. Like the Mirgün Köşkü, these places were built with wood and decorated with delicately carved banisters, balconies and eaves.
It may be that the original building on this site was a single-storey summer residence and the larger building later used its name.
It has long been a source of confusion as to what the differences between and characteristics of “konaks,” “yalıs” and “kasırs” are.
A konak is a different type of housing unit, intended for year-long use and usually translated into English as “mansion.” Today the use of the word in the names of hotels and restaurants is misleading. The word konak was applied to large buildings used as the offices of provincial governors during the Ottoman period. The basement would be made of stone or brick and the upper stories would be wooden.
The ground and second floors would contain rooms devoted to various aspects of governmental business. The term was used for larger homes where the ground floor was used for storage, servants’ rooms, the kitchen and toilet facilities. One large room on the first floor would serve as a public reception area (selamlık), while private rooms (haremlik) opened off of it or were found on a second floor, accessed from an outside stairway.
A yalı, on the other hand, was not just a waterside mansion. It was a structure literally built on top of the Bosphorus, with a covered entrance for boats so that one could embark and disembark inside the house itself.
Some examples of these yalıs still exist along the European and Asian shores. One can see that it juts out over the water and has large glass windows on the waterside, from which one could watch the passing maritime traffic – including garbage.
The large central living area usually ran the entire length of the building while a divan covered with pillows ran around the perimeter wall beneath the windows, with carpets covering the floor.
‘Kasır’
And then there’s the kasır, which architect Doğan Hasol compares with a chateau – although it’s not usually translated that way in English. He also describes it as a defensible imperial palace or large köşk. These buildings started life as small summer palaces in large garden settings and were particularly popular in the 19th century, when the wooden structure was replaced with a two- or three-story stone structure. The sultan would receive guests in the selamlık area, but space was also planned for members of his harem and servants.
via When is a ‘köşk’ not a ‘konak,’ ‘yalı’ or ‘kasır?’ – Hurriyet Daily News.