The administrative buildings of the Tanzimat Period in the Historical Peninsula of Istanbul

Abstract

In this study, the buildings and mansions, in the Historical Peninsula and its vicinity, used as the offices of the ministries, councils, Sheikhulislam and other administrative units in the Tanzimat Period (1839- 1876), during which the administrative reorganization evolved, are examined. The reflections of the new bureaucratic system in the architectural domain of the old city in this period, when, in addition to the old ministries, new ministries, councils and the municipal directorate were founded, have been researched. The building of Sublime Porte serving both as the residence and official headquarters of the Grand Vizier was stripped of its residential feature in this period, and it was reconstructed in brick as the building exclusively for the offices of the ministries and councils. Apart from the building of Sublime Porte, the buildings of the Ministry of War and the Admiralty, which was built in its previous location, on the opposite side of the Golden Horn, are the other buildings that were constructed for the ministries. Some ministries and administrative institutions were ensconced in the existing buildings and mansions on the Historical Peninsula. It has been determined that the Municipality, which provided municipal services, the Zaptieh administration, which was responsible for the security services, and the Trade Administration, where some councils assembled and which harboured some ministries, moved to different buildings several times throughout this period. The buildings of Darulfunun I and Darulfunun II, built for the purpose of education, were later accorded to the use of the ministries. In addition to the ministries and administrative institutions, the selamlik chambers of the mansions, used for the meetings of the bureaucrats, also served as administrative centers. The administrative buildings and the mansions have been studied in terms of their topographical features, positioning, mass formation, plan, architectural style, decoration, construction techniques and materials. Buildings with orientalist or neoclassical influence were used for the administrative units. However, the traditional elements and Western approaches of the planning design and interior decoration were intermixed as needed. When the events unfolding in the Tanzimat Period, the construction works and the administration mechanism are taken into account, it is seen that during the government of the prominent statesman Mustafa Reşid Pasha, the Historical Peninsula was brought to the forefront so as to reflect the Tanzimat ideology in architecture. In the period between 1840 and 1855, in addition to the relatively small scale government buildings such as Limon Quay Police Station, Treasury of Documents, Telegraph Department Office, the construction of a scale-changing structure like Darulfunun as the prestige building of the Tanzimat Period, displays the rational outlook and the system that the Tanzimat statesmen wished to create in Istanbul, manifesting the innovative energy of the period. The period from 1856 to 1863 can be characterized as the time slice in which the projects on the Historical Peninsula entered a period of stagnation due to the death of Mustafa Reşid Pasha, the expenses of the Dolmabahçe Palace, and the Crimean War. During the period between 1864 and 1870, the construction of the Ministry of War and the Admiralty buildings provided for the continuity of the large scale and ambitious stateconstructed projects. In the aftermath of the 1865 Hocapasha fire, the acceleration of the construction of the stone or brick mansions under private ownership, the appearance of the area acquired a Western look, changing the architectural ‘fabric’of the area in the process. It has been determined that the administrative units and mansions were clustered across the Divanyolu axis, and in the Cağaloğlu-Beyazıt region. The location of the Municipality Directorate and the Zaptieh administrations in the old mansions and buildings, and the fact that the ministries kept moving from building to building, despite their desire to be ensconced in appropriate buildings as in Europe, expressed in their correspondences, one can draw the conclusion that during the Tanzimat period there did not exist an all-encompassing approach to the construction of the administrative buildings, and that the administrative institutionalization was not reflected in the architectural domain. The results obtained in this study support the conjecture that the administrative buildings were not constructed on new sites; nonetheless the ministries were ensconced, within the opportunities afforded by the existing conditions, in the buildings that were symbolic of the Tanzimat ideology.

Özet

Bu çalışmada, Osmanlı’da merkezi yönetimin bulunduğu Tarihi Yarımada ve yakın çevresinde, idari teşkilatlanmanın geliştiği Tanzimat Dönemi’nde (1839-1876), nezaretler (bakanlıklar), meclisler ve Şeyhülislamlık ile diğer idari birimlerin görev yaptıkları binalar incelenmiştir. Bu dönemde yenilenen Bâbıâli binasının yanı sıra, Bâb-ı Seraskeri binaları ile Haliç’in karşı kıyısında, eski yerinde yapılan Bahriye Nezareti binası, nezaretler için inşa edilen yapılardır. Belediye hizmeti veren Şehremaneti ve güvenlikten sorumlu Zaptiye idareleri ile çeşitli meclislerin toplandığı, bazı nezaretleri bünyesinde barındıran Ticarethane’nin birkaç bina değiştirdiği belirlenmiştir. Eğitim yapısı olarak inşa edilen I. Dârülfünûn ile II. Dârülfünûn binaları, sonradan çeşitli nezaretlerin kullanımına verilmiştir. Telgrafhane ve Hazine-i Evrak binaları, yeni işlev içeren idari yapılardır. Bu dönemde, nezaretler ve idari kurumların haricinde, selamlık dairelerinde toplantıların yapıldığı, bazıları sonradan bakanlıkların yerleşimine açılan bürokrat konakları da idari merkezler konumundadır. Söz konusu yapılar, topografik özellikler, konum, plan, kütle biçimlenişi, mimari stil, dekorasyon, yapım teknikleri ve malzemeler yönünden incelenmiştir. Tanzimat Dönemi’nde inşaat faaliyeti açısından yoğun bir süreç yaşayan Tarihi Yarımada’nın yeni işlevli yapılar ve konaklar ile Batılı bir görünüm kazandığı gözlenmiştir. Şehremaneti ve Zaptiye idarelerinin, yazışmalarda Avrupa’da olduğu gibi yeni ve uygun bina isteklerine rağmen, mevcut eski konak ve binalara yerleştirildiği ve kurumsallaşmaya gereken önemin verilemediği tespit edilmiştir. Öte yandan, Tanzimat ideolojisini yansıtan sembol binalara yerleştirilen nezaretler ve Avrupai stil ve teknikte inşa edilen yapılar, modernite konusundaki kararlı yaklaşımı ortaya koymaktadır.