Dying beauties: the wooden buildings of Istanbul

http://www.inenart.eu/?p=17305

by benbreen • 11 years ago

24 4 11 years ago

jballanc• 11 years ago

There are a number of examples of this architectural style, but much better preserved, along the side streets near the Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia).

That said...I'm honestly not the least bit surprised that many of these places are falling into disrepair. At the same time, I wouldn't ascribe it to gentrification or any ill will by the middle class, looking to replace them with new construction, toward immigrants too poor to maintain them.

This is just how Istanbul is. The city is so old that there's not really any point in placing special value on something that might be merely one or two (or even three) hundred years old. It's not that Istanbul is in any hurry to tear down old construction. The city is just ruthlessly pragmatic. The product of millennia of settlement built upon settlement built upon settlement...it really is unlike quite any other place in the world.

guard-of-terra• 11 years ago

Some places are lucky to have stone. They have good architecture that lasts (looking at you Italy). Other are not so lucky, one fire or one century away from having nothing.

whoopdedo• 11 years ago

There are two photos showing a wooden building between two newer structures. In the first the neighboring buildings are brick. The architect there decorated the buildings so they matched the wood next door. The other shows concrete buildings. They wood house in that photo looks out of place.

phillipadsmith• 11 years ago

The post appears to be gone now...?

Dying beauties: the wooden buildings of Istanbul

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