Istanbul Dwellings from the 16th to the 19th Century

Abstract

Ottoman registers offer ample information about Istanbul dwellings. The oldest primary source is the Tax Register of Istanbul Foundations kept in the 16th century. This register shows the distribution of residences and shops within the city walls of Istanbul. It also displays the arrangement of the dwelling units among themselves, as well as the relationship of these units with other units in the neighborhood where they are located. Thus, it gives the opportunity to determine the density and size of the units and the differences in how these units come together, depending on the location of the neighborhood in the city. However, the Finance Ministry's Revenues Books (Vâridât Muhasebesi) dated 1874, which include the Ottoman land registry for taxation purposes, shows the architectural features of the house, owners, foundation owners, neighbor parcel information, door numbers and which side of the street they belong to, and also it allows to find property’s approximate location on maps in the 19th century. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate an exemplary assessment of the spatial transformation of the selected properties in the Istanbul city walls, based on the mentioned book records. In some of the neighborhoods located in different locations, the names of the streets are also signs of changings with the modern planning approaches carried out as a result of fires. In this way, it is possible to detect the lost architectural pieces and urban texture in the context of conservation. Acknowledging the limitations of an analysis which focuses on a few neighborhoods to define Istanbul dwellings from the 16th century to the 19th century, this study hopes to be the first step of a more comprehensive study.