The Living Wooden Houses of Istanbul's Islands

A new edition of Prof. Dr. Reha Günay's book "Living Wooden Houses of Istanbul Islands," which documents the still vibrant wooden architectural fabric of the Istanbul islands, has been released.

The new version of the book was prepared in a smaller size than the first editions, without compromising its content, quality, or number of pages, with the aim of being easily portable for readers and affordably priced. It was also printed on lightweight paper.

In his book "Istanbul's Lost Wooden Houses," Reha Günay revealed the sadness of Istanbul's disappearing wooden housing fabric. In "Living Wooden Houses of Istanbul Islands," he presents a selection of structures on the Islands that continue to thrive with enthusiasm despite urbanization, population growth, and our general indifference.
The book allows us to view Istanbul's islands through the distilled lens of Reha Günay's more than 50 years of experience as an architect, photographer, academic, and author.
In the book, Reha Günay provides examples ranging from very small traditional houses to magnificent Neo-Classical or Art-Nouveau mansions, in addition to the street fabric of Büyükada, Heybeliada, Burgazada, and Kınalıada. He offers highly original explanations regarding the architectural and artistic features of these structures.

Reha Günay summarizes his reason for carefully selecting black and white photographs taken over many years on the Islands to prepare a book as follows:

"While preparing 'Istanbul's Lost Wooden Houses,' I considered including the island houses, but I didn't feature them because they are a very important group of houses and they are still alive. With this book, instead of the sorrow of lost houses, we experience the joy of living houses. Indeed, these structures, located right next to Istanbul, continue to exist thanks to the struggles and efforts of their owners. In this way, we find the cultural values we lost on the mainland collectively preserved in this natural wonder of a geography and enjoy them to the fullest. Cultural heritage teaches us history as a passage of time. Not just events, but also humanity, economy, technology, art, and culture... Isn't it an easy attitude to simply take a ferry and see these structures without making any effort to protect them? That's why we owe a thank you to the islanders. If we look at the foreign tourists wandering the Islands, it seems they understand the value of Islands' architecture better than we do. Going to the Island should not just be about eating, drinking, riding a phaeton, swimming, lying under a tree, or sitting in a café. It is necessary to walk around the Island, see its structures from the simplest houses to the most magnificent mansions, understand them, learn their stories, and even feel the necessity to enjoy them.

The photographs in the book are mostly recent. We did not attempt to collect all important structures. Rather, we made selections from houses of various segments. We took examples from very small or traditional houses as well as from magnificent Neo-Classical and Art-Nouveau mansions. Although there are some structures on the Islands that have suffered from restoration, most have been recently compiled, tidied up, painted, and adorned. Seeing these structures in their living state truly gladdens one's heart...

Today, the Islands are like an open-air museum reflecting various styles of 19th-century European architecture. Nearby Istanbul, which is thousands of years old, has now entirely lost its traditional wooden housing fabric; it barely preserves its old masonry societal structures while having lost its historical environment. In contrast, the Islands standing before us in a remarkably preserved state today seems like a miracle. To sustain this miracle and pass it on to future generations will provide extraordinary contributions to our culture in the future..."

CONTENTS

A LOOK AT THE HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE ISLANDS

Tanzimat Edict and Minorities

Westernizing Architecture

Expansion in Istanbul's Settlement Borders

Islands Architecture

BÜYÜKADA

HEYBELİADA

BURGAZADA

KINALIADA