The Bulgur Palas, originally known as the Bolulu Habip Bey Mansion, is a historical mansion located in Istanbul, Turkey. It was restored and redeveloped into a library and cultural center for public use after its acquisition by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality in 2021.
| 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°0′25″N 28°56′38″E / 41.00694°N 28.94389°E |
| Construction started | 1912 |
| Renovated | 2021 |
| Owner | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 5 |
| Floor area | 3,750 m2 (40,400 sq ft) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Giulio Mongeri |
History
editThe Bulgur Palas is located on Kocamustafapaşa Hill, one of the seven hills of Istanbul,[1] at Kargı Çıkmazı 5, in Aksaray in Fatih, a municipality of Istanbul in Turkey. The mansion was commissioned by Mehmet Habip Bey (1878–1926), 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),[1][2] and designed in 1912 by Giulio Mongeri (1873–1951), a Levantine architect of Italian descent.[3][4][5] The construction of the house, also called the Bolulu Habip Bey Mansion, was financed by the trade in grain and bulgur, a cracked wheat foodstuff, during World War I.[1]
Habip Bey was arrested after the Armistice of Mudros in 1918, and exiled to Malta in 1919, leaving construction unfinished.[1][2][4] As a result of financial difficulties he encountered during that period, the house was mortgaged to the Ottoman Bank as security for a loan.[1] After his sudden death 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. A downstairs room was reserved as a birdhouse for hundreds of domestic canaries, which were probably raised to live in the branches of the Ottoman Bank.[2][6] The building was later abandoned.[4]
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,[6] 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.[7]
Architecture
editMongeri's design exhibits traces of the First national architectural movement.[5] The building consists of three full floors and one half floor.[8] According to the current owner, the building has five floors.[9] There is also an observation terrace.[9] 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.[9]
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Bulgur Palas (June 2015) -
During Restoration (September 2023)
References
edit
- ^ a b c d e f g "Bulgur Palas'ta 100 yıl sonra açılış". BirGün (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 4 March 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d e Kaya, Önder (May 2021). "Tarihi Bulgur Palas yeniden kapılarını açıyor". Tarih Dergisi (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 4 May 2024. Retrieved 4 May 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 Aksu, Fatma. "Bulgur Palas'ın hazin hikâyesi". Hürriyet (in Turkish). Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 16 June 2021.
- ^ a b 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). Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 May 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.
- ^ a b ""Bulgur Palas'ı satın aldık; kültür mekânına dönüştüreceğiz"". TV5 (in Turkish). 1 May 2021. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
- ^ "Bulgur Palas nerede, İstanbul'un hangi ilçesinde?". NTV (in Turkish). 1 March 2024. Archived from the original on 26 April 2024. 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.
- ^ a b c "İBB Bulgur Palas Kütüphanesi - Atatürk Kitaplığı" (in Turkish). İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyesi. Archived from the original on 26 April 2024. Retrieved 26 April 2024.