Boutique Hotel
Located within the borders of Fatih district in the Historical Peninsula, Küçükayasofya neighborhood is bordered by Binbirdirek to the north, Şehsuvarbey to the west, Sultanahmet neighborhoods to the east and the Marmara Sea to the south.
The first settlement in the Historic Peninsula dates back to 8500 years ago in line with the findings of the Yenikapı excavations in 2008. The city, which was the capital of the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, consists of many unique artifacts that are the products of different civilizations, cultures and communities and that serve as examples of different periods of history. With all these qualities, Istanbul was accepted to the Unesco World Heritage List in 1985 under the name of the Historical Sites of Istanbul.
The heritage sites are divided into four zones: Sultanahmet Urban Archaeological Site, which includes the Hippodrome, Hagia Sophia, Hagia Irene, Little Hagia Sophia Mosque and Topkapı Palace; Süleymaniye Conservation Area, which includes Süleymaniye Mosque and its surroundings; Zeyrek Conservation Area, which includes Zeyrek Mosque and its surroundings; and Istanbul Land Walls Conservation Area.
The archaeological remains within the borders of Küçük Ayasofya Neighborhood, which is within the Sultanahmet Urban Archaeological Protected Area, are important with the Küçük Ayasofya Mosque and the wooden housing texture.
The Küçük Ayasofya Mosque, which was a Byzantine church converted into a mosque by Hüseyin Ağa, the Kapıağası of the Bayezid II period in the early 16th century and gave its name to the neighborhood, was built in 530 by Iustinianos, the founder of Hagia Sophia with its current building. Because of some similarities in plan between the two monuments, it is called Little Hagia Sophia. Previously, there was a basilica type church dedicated to Peter and Paul in the same courtyard and there was also a pavilion of the Great Palace called Hormisdas Palace. According to the legend of the founding of the building, Iustinianos I was going to be punished for his involvement in an uprising against his uncle Iustinos I. He was saved when the saints Sergios and Bakkhos entered the dream of Iustinos and testified in his favor, and when he became emperor, he built the church in the name of these saints to repay his debt of gratitude. The building is important as it is an important example of the central domed church buildings of the Early Byzantine Period.
Another important building in the area is the Sokullu Mehmet Pasha Complex, a work of Mimar Sinan, built in 1572. The complex consists of a mosque, madrasah, tekke, shops and fountains.
The residential fabric of the historic peninsula has changed over time due to the frequent fire disasters that threatened the wooden buildings in Istanbul. The İshakpaşa Fire of 1912, one of the largest fires in Istanbul, significantly changed the character of the area. After the fire, a series of reconstruction activities were undertaken by the Şehremaneti, and as a result of a search for standardization, the streets were planned to intersect each other perpendicularly and form geometric building islands. This led to the destruction of the organic old neighborhood texture and dead-end streets that developed in harmony with the topography. The İshakpaşa Fire gave rise to important construction activities that led to the construction of Sultanahmet and Hagia Sophia squares.
The maps of the İshakpaşa fire site from 1913 contain data on the newly planned roads.
The street on the top left of the map is Mehmet Pasha Street, which is parallel to the street where the building that is the subject of the study is located. It is therefore difficult to understand whether the building in question was affected by this fire or not. However, when the German Blue Maps dated 1914 and the Ayverdi Maps dated 1875-1882 are compared, it is determined that the dead-end streets around Çardakçı Fırın Street, which is located to the left of the street of the building under study, have been transformed and connected to other streets.
Based on this, it can be said that İshakpaşa construction activities may have gone beyond the boundaries shown on the map and the building in question may have been built as a result of these activities. On the German blues maps, the areas where construction activities continued in the fire area are shown with a dashed line.
It is estimated that the wooden houses that make up the historical texture of Küçükayasofya are recent buildings built at the beginning of the 20th century, usually after fires.In the area, which is understood to have an organic street texture from the historical maps of the period, there are two or three-storey wooden houses built in adjacent order, rising above a partial basement floor.The buildings are separated from each other by brick fire walls.The main entrances of the buildings facing the street are also on the street.Generally, all buildings have green gardens at the back of the buildings, which are located in the parcel gaps.The rear facades of the buildings face the garden and there is a passage from the ground floor to the garden.The gardens are separated from each other by masonry walls.On the front facade facing the street, there is a projection at the level of the first floor, usually centrally placed according to the facade.Windows are arranged in one or two rows on either side of the projection.The entrance doors on the ground floor, which are reached by a few steps, are double-leafed wooden doors and usually have a skylight above the door.
The projects of two adjoining wooden mansions, which have become unusable due to reasons such as neglect and fire, have been prepared and their approvals from the relevant institutions have been completed. The official contractor has also been undertaken. In the two adjacent buildings, 13 rooms with wet rooms were removed and both the historical texture was preserved and the need was met.
Year:
2022Location:
Kadırga, Fatih, İstanbul, TürkiyeEMPLOYER:
PrivateTYPE OF WORK:
RESTORATION, DESIGN & BUILDContributors:
Oğuzhan Poyraz, Mehmet Sefa Akbaba, Nur Çiçek Soylu