Istanbul 1900

This fascinating book reveals the intricate legacy of art-nouveau-style architecture and design in Istanbul, its Islamic roots in that city, and the European and Turkish architects and theorists who influenced its controversial voice. Three hundred illustrations, mostly in color, present evidence of the art-nouveau designs of the past, and the face of the city today. The mid-nineteenth century in Istanbul was a time of vast reforms and a determined desire to adapt urban life to western standards. Fire-control reforms caused a municipal preference for masonry buildings over the traditional wooden ones, and the importation of English, French, Italian, and German architects to build in the unfamiliar material. The result was a western cultural colonization and the introduction of art-nouveau style, followed by a backlash of nationalism and the development of the "first Turkish national style" of architecture. This thoughtful text considers the cultural and political implications of art-nouveau in Istanbul. How can the negative effects of imported cultural hegemony be reconciled with the fundamental western contribution to the nineteenth-century Ottoman revival? How far-reaching was the design influence of foreigners such as Raimondo D'Aronco, perhaps the most original interpreter of art-nouveau in Istanbul? How much influence did European ideas have on national style architects such as Kemaleddin Bey and Vedat Tek? Istanbul 1900 is the first visual and historical study of the development of art-nouveau architecture, and places Istanbul among Paris, Brussels, and Vienna as one of the great capitals of the style. New photographs and previously unpublished drawings and plans present the opulent homes and palaces along the Bosphorus, and throughout the city, in stunning detail.