Textual manifestations of Ottoman architectural revival and the search for a national idiom in the late Ottoman period

Abstract

This article applies a critical approach to rethinking the relationship between nationalism and Ottoman architectural historiography by examining the intellectual medium during the late Ottoman period. More precisely, it examines how the history and theory of Ottoman architecture were initially established by Tanzimat (Reform) intelligentsia with the publication of Usûl-i Mimâri-i Osmani (Fundamentals of Ottoman Architecture) (1873). It addresses how the text was later comprehended and criticized by their successors, who utilized it to constitute their own vision of Turkish national architecture. By detailing the rise of the Turkish nationalist movement and the transition from Ottomanism to Turkism as the dominant identity, this article highlights the demand for the materialization of a national architecture as a component of the cultural construction of a national architectural style and the role of new public buildings as the site of nationalizing endeavors at the beginning of the twentieth century. Finally, this article problematizes the extent to which these new constructions can be deemed “national” by investigating the works of a pioneer figure of architecture, Kemaleddin Bey’s writings and the design and construction of his dormitory building, the Fifth Vakıf Han, in Istanbul.