For most of us Westerners the words ‘Ottoman architecture’ conjure up something with multiple domes and minarets, as is indeed the classic architectural style of Turkish mosques. But of course people didn’t live in mosques; they lived in Ottoman houses, which have their own distinct architectural style. Various examples of this style can be seen in Kaleici, Antalya ‘s old city center.
Ottoman house
The defining characteristic of an Ottoman house is the cumba (pronounced ‘joomba’) , the Turkish bay window. These served multiple functions: They enabled residents to see who was at the door, and they provided guests shelter from rain. There are interesting differences among Kaleici’s cumbas. Here’s a particularly nice one:
Traditional wooden cumba
Cumbas come in many varieties. Here’s a house with a square, flat-roofed cumba followed by a curved cumba with a pointy roof:
Unusual cumbas.
There are also Ottoman row houses, with partial cumbas:
Row house cumbas
The oldest houses in Kaleici pre-date the Ottoman era and are entirely of stone. Most of the old Ottoman houses had a stone ground floor and a wooden floor above. Many of these have been restored with a top floor of stucco, sometimes preserving the wooden aspect in the cumba.
Since the houses were all fairly similar, the wealthy showed off by having ornate doors:
One of Kaleici’s beautiful doors.
One family outdid the neighbors by having, in addition to elaborate doors, a mailbox in Italian:
Italian mailbox and baroque door
It’s hard to believe that little more than twenty hears ago the entire area was a dilapidated mess where tourists feared to enter. There are still several buildings in need of restoration, and one can imagine what Kaleici looked like before the recent renovations.
Pre-renovated Ottoman houses.
Since the increase of tourism in the ’90s the government has been heavily investing in the restoration of Kaleici, and laws require all renovations to preserve the original structures and style.
They don’t seem to be too strict about it though, judging from the example below. Although they did manage to preserve the wooden cumbas, the stucco is gratuitously painted to look like bricks. Even worse, the windows are trompe l’oeil : Not windows at all, they’re just paintings of windows!
Restored house with trompe l’oeil bricks and windows
Of course the downside of all this development is that Kaelici is now filled with souvenir shops and touts trying to get you to buy something (usually by starting by asking “where are you from?”). But it’s still nice to wander around and appreciate the architecture, especially early in the morning when you practically have the place to yourself.
Typical Kaleici street.
Ha! Ha! My first thought to ottoman was something on which I rest my feet! Love all of the photos, such an interesting place!
Yeah, that was pretty much all I knew about Ottoman style before I moved to Turkey!
Gorgeous photos! I wish I’d been able to take such good photos on my last visit there
Thanks, Deniz. Did you have good weather when you were here? All I do is go out on a sunny day and point and shoot!
I did! But not much time, since I was there for work
Great post Ellen! Thanks for teaching me the Turkish word “cumba.” I always wondered what those bay windows were called….very common esp. in Safranbolu too. We stayed in the Kaleici area 2 years ago and really enjoyed our weekend jaunt there. It was a fun area to wander around in and I bought the best Turkish desk lamp at one of the tourist shops you mentioned. I thought it was a great deal compared to prices I’ve seen in Istanbul.
Those lamps are beautiful! There’s a lot of good stuff in the shops. If the owners would relax a bit I think foreigners would be more comfortable and do more shopping.
And I didn’t know the word ‘cumba’ either until I did some online research. It’s not a word you hear every day, even though you do see them every day!
Wonderful photos Ellen. Looks like a great place to be.
Thanks, Lilliane. Yes, Antalya has many beautiful areas.
Ellen, Looks wonderful! Have Billy find me a place there for $300 a month and I’m there
Arrive on the 30th hope to see you around town
Larry Bosco
WheresBoscoNow.com
$300 is definitely doable in Antalya. I don’t know if there’s anything on Kaleici, but just outside of it is no problem.
Very nice pictures Ellen. We are going to Kaleici 25 of may and stay for 2 weeks. Really looking forward to it. We have been to Oba,Alanya several times but l know this is totally diffent.
But can you telle me; which beach would you prefer?
If you are staying in Kaleici I’d recommend taking the tram just outside Kaleici to Beach Park in Konyaaltı.
I absolutely LOVE Ottoman and Islamic architecture. It is simply gorgeous. Wouldn’t mind living in a house like that
lovely photos!
- Maria Alexandra
I absolutely LOVE Ottoman and Islamic architecture. It is simply gorgeous. Wouldn’t mind living in a house like that
lovely photos!
- Maria Alexandra
http://www.LatinAbroad.com