Arif Sarıca Mansion ( tr, Moda Arif Sarıca Köşkü) is an Ottoman-era mansion in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, Turkey. It was built in 1903.

Background

Arif Sarıca, also known as Arif Pasha, was born in

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

( tr, Eğriboz) as a member of a family with military roots. He was promoted to one of the court physicians of the Ottoman Sultan

Abdulhamid II Abdülhamid or Abdul Hamid II ( ota, عبد الحميد ثانی, Abd ül-Hamid-i Sani; tr, II. Abdülhamid; 21 September 1842 10 February 1918) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 31 August 1876 to 27 April 1909, and the last sultan to ...

() at the

Yıldız Palace Yıldız Palace ( tr, Yıldız Sarayı, ) is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman pavilions and villas in Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was used as a residence by the sultan and his court in the late 19th ...

after he cured the sultan. His brother Ragıp Pasha served as aide de camp to the sultan.

Mansion

Arif Sarıca Mansion, also called as "Apartment Sarıca", is located at Moda Avenue 147 in Moda quarter of

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea of ...

district in Istanbul, Turkey. The place Moda in Kadıköy became an outstanding residential area only after the 1870s, when first wealthy non-Muslim families, like the bankers Lorando and Tubini and later the Whittall and Lafontain, settled down by building their own mansions. Built in 1903, its architect was a

Ottoman Greek Ottoman Greeks ( el, Ρωμιοί; tr, Osmanlı Rumları) were ethnic Greeks who lived in the Ottoman Empire (1299–1922), much of which is in modern Turkey. Ottoman Greeks were Greek Orthodox Christians who belonged to the Rum Millet (''Millet ...

C. Pappa. The building is situated within a large garden surrounded with a -high masonry stone wall.Entrance to the premises was originally through two iron gates, one of which was for service. During the construction of the tram line in the street in the 1930s, the street-side garden wall was retracted, and the main gate removed. The masonry stone mansion consists of a basement, ground floor, three floors and

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

. It was designed as an apartment building for the Sarıca Family members. The monumental entrance featuring four marble columns with

Ionic capital The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

s is reached from the street by a crescent-shaoed mosaic-paved and marble-walled walkway. The diverse typed

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s balances the vertical effect on the façadee of the building. The windows are covered with white-painted horizontal wooden slat blinds of so-called "Istanbul-type", which can be lowered and drawn. The floors are separated with big double-wing doors in front of the staircaeses. As common in mansions and waterfront residences of the era, the rooms on each floor open to a hall in the center. Arif Pasha lived in the street-side apartment on the ground floo, which was accessible through the main gate. All other family members lived in the upstairs used the second entrance. The servant living in the basement used a service staircase, which was connected to the kitchen, the central hall and the stairhead of each upstair floors. At each floor stairhead, a restroom for the servants and a small storage is found. The walls and ceilings at each floor are decorated with frescoes and

crown molding Crown moulding is a form of cornice created out of decorative moulding installed atop an interior wall. It is also used atop doors, windows, pilasters and cabinets. Historically made of plaster or wood, modern crown moulding installation ...

History

During the

Occupation of Istanbul The occupation of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul'un İşgali; 12 November 1918 – 4 October 1923), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by British, French, Italian, and Greek forces, took place in accordance with the Armistice of Mudros, which ended O ...

(1918 – 1923) by the Allied troops of the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, British forces evacuated the mansion, and handed over to the

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

to be used as a primary school for more than two years. Many objects of the mansion were ruined or got lost during the occupation years. The Sarıca Family regained the possession of the mansion following the liberation of Istanbul after the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

. The mansion is still owned by the grandchildren of the Sarıca Family. Concert pianist

Ayşegül Sarıca Ayşegül Sarıca (28 May 1935 – 10 March 2023) was a Turkish concert pianist, pedagogue. Life Ayşegül Sarıca was born into an Ottoman military family in Istanbul, Turkey in 1935. Ahmet İzzet Pasha (1864–1937), one of the last Ottoman gr ...

(born 1935) resides in the mansion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arif Sarica Mansion Ottoman architecture in Istanbul Buildings and structures of the Ottoman Empire Mansions in Turkey Buildings and structures in Istanbul Houses completed in 1903 Kadıköy

Background

Mansion

History

See also

References