Old Wooden Houses, Istanbul

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This street lies behind the Hagia Sophia, near the main entrance gate that leads into the Topkapi Palace. It features wooden, two or three-storey Ottoman houses consisting of four to ten rooms that date to the 19th and 20th centuries, and have been restored with the initiative of Celik Gulersoy in 1985-1986.

Called "Ayasofya Konaklari" (Hagia Sophia Mansions), nine of the houses are run as a hostel chain by the Touring and Automobile Club of Turkey (TTOK). The houses are named after the flower shrubs next to them as "Yaseminli Ev" (Jasmine House), "Mor Salkimli Ev" (Wisteria sinensis House), "Hanimeli Ev" (Honeysuckle House) etc. The buildings are decorated in the 19th century style with furniture including such items as beds and consoles, silk curtains, velvet armchairs and gilded mirrors. Most notable guest of the hostel was Queen Sofía of Spain, who stayed in the spring of 2000 for four nights.

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Take a stroll around the back streets and keep your eyes open for the old wooden Ottoman houses that are rotting away. Just west of Sultanahmet is the old district is Kumkapi where there are lots of examples of Ottoman architecture or what's left of it....

I still explore Istanbul every morning with delight..
Tophane and Kuledibi area is my recent study...There are iincredibly beautiful building which once hosted the happy elite of Greek,Jewish,Italian and Turkish community of ancient Istanbul..
Most of the buildings have astonishing terraces with the perfect view of Bosphorus and Sultanahmet..
The government has recently launched a project in order to renovate and keep 2000 buildings of this area..

The narrow street called Sogukcesme Sokak situated between Hagia Sophia and the wall of the topkapi palace, is full of nice wooden houses from the ottoman period...

For more infos about the ottoman architecture, I recommand this web site : http://www.solidine.com/kb/turkey/architecture.htm

(picture taken by VT-member Bigjones)