Bulgur Palas
| Bulgur Palas | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bulgur Palas in the 1990s as office building of Ottoman Bank. | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | First national architectural movement |
| Address | Aksaray, Kargı Çk. 5, 34096 Fatih, Istanbul |
| Coordinates | 41°00′25″N 28°56′38″E / 41.00701°N 28.94393°E |
| Construction started | 1912 |
| Renovated | 2021 |
| Owner | Istanbul Metropolitan Municpality (İBB) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 5 |
| Floor area | 3,750 m2 (40,400 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Giulio Mongeri |
The Bulgur Palas, originally known as the Bolulu Habip Bey Mansion, is a 1912-built historical mansion located in Istanbul in Turkey. After its acquisition by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2021, it was restored and redeveloped into a library and cultural center for public use.
History[edit]
The Bulgur Palas is located on Kocamustafapaşa Hill, which is one of the Seven hills of Istanbul,[1] at Kargı Çıkmazı 5, in Aksaray in the Fatih municipality of Istanbul, Turkey. The mansion was commissioned by Mehmet Habip Bey (1878–1926),[1] a soldier and a deputy of Bolu from the Committee of Union and Progress in the Ottoman Parliament of the Second Constitutional era (1908–1920).[2] The architect was Giulio Mongeri.[3] It is claimed that the house, also called the Bolulu Habip Bey Mansion, was financed by the black market trade in grain and bulgur, a cracked wheat foodstuff, during the war.[1] Due to the financial difficulties experienced by Habip Bey resulting from his arrest after the Armistice of Mudros in 1918 and his exile to Malta in 1919,[2] the construction could not be fully completed.[3] The house was mortgaged to the Ottoman Bank as security for a loan.[1]
After Habip Bey died suddenly in 1926 from a heart attack, the building was transferred to the Ottoman Bank as collateral for the family's debts. For a period of time, the mansion was used as a bank archive, and its three apartments as residences for bank employees and their families. Interestingly, a room in the downstairs was reserved as a birdhouse for hundreds of domestic canaries,[4] which were probably raised to live in the branches of the Ottoman Bank.[2] The building was later abandoned.[3] In 1955, the mansion became the target of looting during the Istanbul pogrom because of the non-Muslim families living there at that time and the non-Turkish character of the Ottoman Bank.[2] The building remained under the ownership of the Ottoman Bank and passed in 2001 into the ownership of Garanti Bank, which had acquired the Ottoman Bank.[1]
In 2021, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality purchased the Bulgur Palas,[4] and began efforts to restore the building, intending to open it to the public as a document center, archive, library, exhibition hall, and café. The building was opened to visitors on 28 February 2024.[5]
Architecture[edit]
The structure was designed in 1912 by Giulio Mongeri (1873–1951), an Ottoman Empire–born architect of Italian descent.[6] It exhibits traces of the First national architectural movement.[7]
The building consists of five floors:[8] one cellar, three full floors and one half floor.[9] There is also an observation terrace.[8] The main body of the building is constructed with unplastered red brick, and only the part with the towers is plastered. There is a railing-free deck around the domed roof at the top. The mansion is surrounded by extremely high walls.[2]
Bulgur Palas features 3,750 m2 (40,400 sq ft) of covered space in 81 independent sections, a 1,750 m2 (18,800 sq ft) open area, a 1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft) outbuilding, and a 9 m2 (97 sq ft) ornamental pool.[1] The newly established library section with 150-seat capacity contains about 25,000 books and documents.[8]
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Bulgur Palas (June 2015) -
During Restoration (September 2023)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f "Bulgur Palas'ta 100 yıl sonra açılış". BirGün (in Turkish). Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Kaya, Önder (May 2021). "Tarihi Bulgur Palas yeniden kapılarını açıyor". Tarih Dergisi (in Turkish). Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ a b c Aksu, Fatma. "Bulgur Palas'ın hazin hikâyesi". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ a b ""Bulgur Palas'ı satın aldık; kültür mekânına dönüştüreceğiz"". TV5 (in Turkish). 1 May 2021. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ "Bulgur Palas nerede, İstanbul'un hangi ilçesinde?". NTV (in Turkish). 1 March 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Çinici, Damla (10 April 2015). "Başkent Ankara'nın İnşasında Etkin Bir Mimar: Giulio Mongeri ve Yaşam Öyküsü" [The Biography of Giulio Mongeri, an Architect Active in Building the Capital City Ankara] (PDF). Ankara Araştırmaları Dergis (in Turkish). Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ "İBB tarihi Bulgur Palas'ı satın aldı". Yeni Çağ Gazetesi (in Turkish). 30 April 2021. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ a b c "İBB Bulgur Palas Kütüphanesi - Atatürk Kitaplığı" (in Turkish). İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ Kaya, Önder (3 June 2014). "Bulgur Palas". Gezgin Dergi (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 17 August 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
