Yali (residence)
Encyclopedia
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
and usually built with an architectural concept that takes into account the characteristics of the coastal location. A family who owned a waterside residence would spend some time in this usually secondary residence located at the sea shore, as opposed to the "konak" (mansion, aside from the term's use to refer to buildings with administrative functions) or the "köşk
Kiosk
Kiosk is a small, separated garden pavilion open on some or all sides. Kiosks were common in Persia, India, Pakistan, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward...
" (pavilion, often serving a determined practical purpose, such as hunting, or implying a temporary nature). Thus, going to the "yalı" acquired the sense of both going to the seaside and to the house situated there. In its contemporary sense, the term "yalı" is used primarily to denote the total amount of 620 waterside residences, mostly dating from the 19th century (some of them date from the 18th century, and some from the early 20th century), sprinkled along the Bosphorus in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. As such, they constitute one of the city's landmarks.
Finely worked wood was the predominant construction material chosen for yalıs, as it was for the large majority of traditional Turkish houses. Successive restorations often caused the wooden parts of the overall structure to be gradually reduced, but wood nevertheless remains the prominent and identifying material of historic yalıs. It is not uncommon for the most recently restored mansions to employ wood principally for external decoration purposes.
The oldest surviving yalı is the one built by the grand vizier
Grand Vizier
Grand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha
Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha
Amcazade Köprülü Hüseyin Pasha of the Köprülü family, was the grand vizier of the Ottoman Empire under Mustafa II from September 1697 until September 1702. Shaw, Stanford J...
(of the highly influent Köprülü family) in 1699 at the Kanlıca district, on the Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
tic shores of the Bosphorus. From this yalı, the hall of audience (divanhane) and its immediate annexes have survived. On the opposite Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an shores, the oldest to remain is the "Şerifler Yalısı" in Emirgan which was built in 1780 but bears the name of a later owner. The most expensive yalı is "Erbilgin Yalısı" located in Yeniköy
Yenikoy
Yenikoy is a small village in the Region of Afyonkarahisar in Turkey. It is a traditional Anatolian village. Its local government is a Muhtarlik...
, Istanbul. Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine listed "Erbilgin Yalısı" as the fifth most expensive house in the world with a price tag of $100 million.
Cornucopia
Cornucopia (magazine)
Cornucopia is a magazine about Turkish culture, art and history, published jointly in the United Kingdom and Turkey.-Content:Cornucopia was founded by John Scott and Berrin Torolsan in 1992. It is an English Language magazine that concerns Turkish culture...
, a magazine about the arts, culture and history of Turkey has a regular feature on Bosphoros Yalis; their architecture and their interiors. Notable inclusions have been the Kibrisli Mehmed Emin Pasha Yali http://www.cornucopia.net/highlights8full.html, The Ethem Pertev Yali http://www.cornucopia.net/highlights36full.html, the Safet Pasha Yali (now destroyed)http://www.cornucopia.net/highlights25full.html, and the Zeki Pasha Yali http://www.cornucopia.net/highlights17full.html.