Anyone who has lived in the UK will be familiar with the popular pastime of visiting National Trust houses that are open to the public. Usually these are imposing piles once owned by a member of the aristocracy, although some are associated with famous people, while others were owned by ordinary individuals but are seen as representative of a lost way of life. Here in Turkey far fewer houses are open to the public; for example, none of the yalıs that line the Bosphorus are currently open to general visitors. The only yalı that can be readily visited is the one that used to belong to the artist and archaeologist Osman Hamdi Bey – and that is way out in Eskihisar.
Still, dotted about the country there are some fine houses that are well worth going out of one’s way to visit. Not only is it interesting to inspect internal fixtures and fittings that are unlike those found in Western-style homes but visiting the open houses allows you to remember that Turkey once gloried in all sorts of local architectural styles before concrete apartments swept the board in the late 20th century. The following is my pick of the best. Remember to avoid visiting on Mondays when most publicly owned properties are closed.
Çakıroğlu Konağı, Birgi, near Odemiş
Finest of all the houses open to the public is the magnificent wooden-framed Çakıroğlu Konağı, built on three levels, that used to belong to Şerif Aliağa, the owner of the local tannery. Built in 1761, it was decorated with frescoes depicting İstanbul and İzmir which were intended to salve the homesickness of his two wives. It’s an extraordinary find in out-of-the-way Birgi but the village is more than pretty enough anyway to justify the diversion.
Latifoğlu Konağı, Tokat
Right on Tokat’s high street stands this lovely Ottoman house, typical of those that would have been built by the wealthy in the 19th century. Downstairs you can inspect a characteristic kitchen with all its accoutrements, but the real gem is the upstairs Paşa Odası (Pasha’s Room) where male members of the family would have gathered and where guests would have been received. The room is ringed with sedirs, bench seating that doubled up as beds, with all the linen stored in alcoves during the day. The sunburst on the ceiling is especially splendid.
Sipahioğlu Konağı, Yörükköyü, near Safranbolu
The world-heritage-listed town of Safranbolu is well known for its glorious Ottoman houses, several of them open to the public who will immediately notice how little clutter there was in houses that were never designed to cope with the clutter of Western-style free-standing furniture. Some of the finest houses have now been converted into hotels which sometimes makes it hard to appreciate their original layout. Perhaps the most interesting of the open houses is not actually in Safranbolu itself but eleven kilometres east in Yörükköyü. In the Sipahioğlu Konağı visitors will be able to inspect an ingenious central heating system, a gazebo with a stand for the owner’s fez and frescoes depicting twelve carnations that hint at the owner’s Bektaşı beliefs since the number twelve was especially important to them.
Beypazarı Museum
Beypazarı, near Ankara, has created something of a name for itself as a second Safranbolu full of restored Ottoman houses, one of which has been turned into a museum that is mainly interesting for what it shows of the life lived here in the 19th century. The creaky wooden floorboards are draped with elderly carpets and inside some of what look like cupboards you’ll actually find traditional Ottoman bathrooms – not quite on the scale of those taken for granted today!
Asiyan, İstanbul
Up on the hillside overlooking the Bosphorus at Aşiyan stands a gem of a house that used to be home to the poet and anti-government rebel, Tevfik Fikret (1867-1915). It’s worth coming here just to admire the glorious view out of the window of his bedroom where the clocks are stopped at the time of his death although the house also contains Abdülmecid Efendi’s wonderful painting “Sis (Mist)” alongside a copy of the Fikret poem it inspired.
Trabzon Museum
To see how a wealthy merchant would have lived in the Trabzon of the early 20th-century it’s worth dropping into the museum just off Uzun Sokak. Designed by an Italian, the mansion actually looks like a little bit of France transposed to the eastern Black Sea, with grand, high-ceilinged rooms opening off a central hall. It now houses the local history museum. With more time you might also want to visit the Atatürk Köşkü which is housed in a lovely whitewashed wooden house built in a style more typical of the Crimea than Turkey.
Memiş Ağa Konağı, Sürmene, near Trabzon
On a bluff beside the main road as you whisk east from Trabzon towards Rize stands this impressive fortified house, often simply called the Kastell, which seems to have been designed for a member of the local Yakupoğlu family during the 19th century. Built in a combination of stone and half-timbering, it’s decorated internally with richly carved wood and frescoes of fruit and flowers, and also features a private hamam that doubled-up to provide the central heating. You may have to ask around for the caretaker with the key.
Hasan Süzer Ethnography Museum, Gaziantep
Old Antep is filled with lovely old stone houses whose most striking features are their stripy brickwork and two-tone courtyard floors. One such house has been converted into a museum where unfortunate mannequins suggest the grand late Ottoman lifestyle lived by its erstwhile owner Hasan Süzer, one-time owner of the Pera Palas Hotel in İstanbul. In the Mesk Odası (Games Room), you can admire the way in which people used to tuck their feet under quilts draped over braziers to keep warm.
Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı Museum, Diyarbakır
The medina-like back streets of Diyarbakır house several stunning houses that are open to the public, all of them built of basalt decorated with incised white patterns and all of them opening onto central courtyards which would have been the focus of family life during the heat of summer. The finest was once home to the romantic poet Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı (1910-56) and is close enough to the Ulu Cami to avoid the risk of getting lost while looking for it. If you like it enough then you may want to track down the erstwhile home of the Turkish nationalist, Ziya Gökalp ,as well as the Esma Ocak Evi, bearing in mind that these houses were once the property of Armenians.
Hacı Abdullah Bey Konağı, Savur, near Mardin
Frequently overlooked by visitors, pretty little Savur has a number of hefty stone mansions very like those in Mardin. Right at the top of town with wonderful views over the plain, the Hacı Abdullah Ağa Konağı belongs to a family who can trace their ancestry back to the Prophet Mohammed. Rooms have been meticulously restored to show off how people used to cook, bathe and sleep here. You can even put up for the night if you want to.
Güpgüpoğlu Konağı, Kayseri
Tucked inside the big basalt walls of old Kayseri is this magnificent mansion which dates back to the early 15th-century but has been restored to showcase family life in the 19th century when it was home to the poet, composer and government official, Ahmet Mithat Güpgüpoğlu (1862-1931). The exquisite entrance hall in particular is adorned with painted beams and lavishly carved woodwork. It’s far cry from most modern Kayseri architecture.
Koyunoğlu Konya Evi
The streets of modern Konya retain very few old houses although there is one that is open to the public hidden away beside the rarely visited Koyunoğlu Museum, south of the shrine of the Mevlana. This was once home to a railway inspector called İzzet Koyunoğlu who was an inveterate collector of bric-a-brac, gathered up as he rode the rails. Assuming it’s open, it offers a rare chance to glimpse the life lived by the wealthy of Konya in the 19th century.
