Evolution and rationalization of timber frame design in Istanbul in the second half of the nineteenth century

ABSTRACT

Until the mid-19th century, the traditional Istanbul house was a building constructed with a timber frame with adobe or brick infill (hımış). This timber frame construction technique evolved in the second half of the 19th century into a timber frame with closely placed thin vertical braces without infill. The causes behind this change are still unknown. This study traces the causes of change and the evolution pattern of Istanbul timber-frame construction through Ottoman building-cost estimates, cost journals and other written sources of the period. The Western influence on science and technology affected the newly emerging engineering discipline in Istanbul and caused the gradual change in timber-frame design. However, the rationalization of timber-frame design went hand in hand with the industrialization of the woodworking sector in the Western world, whereas in Istanbul the lack of steam-powered woodworking machines caused the extensive use of hand-sawn timber-frame elements. This violated the basic design principles of vertically braced timber frames and caused the construction of fragile frames in need of frequent maintenance. Only in the last decade of the 19th century did the industrialization of the woodworking sector lead to the full rationalization of timber-frame construction. Identifying the timber frame types of this transition period is of crucial importance while dating the historic timber structures and assessing their structural strengths and weaknesses.

KEYWORDS:

• Nineteenth-century Istanbul timber constructions
• evolution of timber-frame design
• vertically braced timber frame
• industrialization
• rationalization

Notes on contributor

DAMLA ACAR, PhD, Received her B.Arch and MSc. in Architecture from Istanbul Technical University (1993-1999). Graduated from the PhD program in Restoration at Istanbul Technical University in 2016. Currently works as an Architect -conservator at Turkish Natiinal Assembly, National Palaces Department, Istanbul, Turkey. Major research interest include building conservation, timber frame structures and 19th century building techniques.

Notes

1. S.H. Eldem, Türk Evi Osmanlı Dönemi [Turkish House Ottoman Period], Vol. 3 (Istanbul: Türkiye Anıt Çevre Turizm Değerlerini Koruma Vakfı, 1987), 161–94.

2. S. Schweigger, Ein newe Reyssbeschreibung auss Teutschland nach Constantinopel und Jerusalem (Nürnberg, 1608).

3. R. Langenbach, ‘From “Opus Craticum” to the “Chicago Frame”: Earthquake-Resistant Traditional Construction’, International Journal of Architectural Heritage no. 1 (2007): 29–59.

4. D. Acar and D. Mazlum, ‘Timber-Framed Houses Built for the Court Members after the 1894 Earthquake in Istanbul: Rationalization of Construction Techniques’, International Journal of Architectural Heritage 10, no. 5 (2016): 604–19.

5. Eldem, Türk Evi Osmanlı Dönemi, III, 163; M. Bachmann, ‘İstanbul Ahşap Evlerinin Teknik ve Yapısal Özellikleri [Technical and Structural Characteristics of Istanbul Houses]’, in Ahşap İstanbul Konut Mimarisinden Örnekler [Timber Architecture in Istanbul], ed. B. Tanman and M. Bachmann (Istanbul: Istanbul Research Institute Publ., 2008), 20–62.

6. Eldem, Türk Evi Osmanlı Dönemi, III, 162.

7. Ibid., 163.

8. Bachmann, ‘İstanbul Ahşap Evlerinin Teknik’, 25; M. Bachmann, ‘The Final Act in Ottoman Timber Construction’, in Fifth International Congress on Construction History, ed. B. Bowen, D. Friedman, Th. Leslie and J. Ochsendorf, Vol. 3 (Chicago: Proceedings Book, 2015), 103–12.

9. S.H. Eldem, Türk Evi Osmanlı Dönemi [Turkish House Ottoman Period], Vol. 1 (Istanbul: Türkiye Anıt Çevre Turizm Değerlerini Koruma Vakfı, 1984), 168; S.H. Eldem, Türk Evi Osmanlı Dönemi [Turkish House Ottoman Period], Vol. 2 (Istanbul: Türkiye Anıt Çevre Turizm Değerlerini Koruma Vakfı, 1986), 79.

10. Langenbach, ‘From “Opus Craticum”’, 35.

11. Ch. Schindler, ‘Information-Tool-Technology: Contemporary Digital Fabrication as Part of a Continuous Development of Process Technology as Illustrated with the Example of Timber Construction, 2007’, http://www.caad.arch.ethz.ch/wiki/uploads/Organisation/2007_Schindler_Information-tool-technology.pdf (accessed 9 August 2014).

12. D.T. Yeomans, ‘Early Carpenter's Manuals 1592–1820’, Construction History 2 (1986): 13–33.

13. J.Th. Hurst, Elementary Principles of Carpentry: Revised from the Original Edition and Partly Re-Written, 2nd ed. (London: E. & F.N. Spon, 1875).

14. Th. Tredgold, Elementary Principles of Carpentry; A Treatise on the Pressure and Equilibrium of Timber Framing, The Resistance of Timber, and the Construction of Floors, Centres, Bridges, Roofs, Uniting Iron and Stone with Timber Etc, 3rd ed. (London, 1853).

15. Ibid., 120–21.

16. Ibid., 121.

17. Trussed partition walls with thin vertical braces are described in many publications from the 19th century: architect Peter Nicholson's Practical Carpentry, Joinery and Cabinet Making (London, 1826) and Henry Stephens and Robert Scott Burn's Book on Farm Buildings (Rochester and London, 1861) are among the publications that include chapters on timber-framed partition walls.

18. M. Turan, ‘Reconstructing the Balloon Frame: A Study in the History of Architectonics’, Middle East Technical University – Journal of Faculty of Architecture no. 2 (2009): 175–209.

19. E. Aldebert and E. Aucamus, Charpente et Couverture (Paris: Libraires des Ponts et Chaussees, des Mines et des Chemins de Fer, 1896), 45–46. The book was one of the sources on timber engineering purchased for the Civil Engineering School in Istanbul at the end of the 19th century.

20. N. Yazıcı, ‘The Evolution of Architectural Establishment in Ottomans and Architectural Environment in Reformation Period’ (Unpublished PhD thesis, Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul, 2007), 47.

21. Ibid., 55.

22. F. Günergun, ‘Mekteb-i Harbiye'de Okutulan Mimarlık ve İnşaat Bilgisi Dersleri için 1870'li Yıllarda Yazılmış Üç Kitap [Three Textbooks on Architecture and Engineering Taught in Imperial Military School]’, in Afife Batur'a Armağan-Mimarlık ve Sanat Tarihi Yazıları, ed. A. Ağır, D. Mazlum and G. Cephanecigil (Istanbul: Literatür Publ., 2005), 151–63.

23. Yazıcı, ‘Evolution of Architectural Establishment’, 70.

24. Günergun, ‘Mekteb-i Harbiye'de Okutulan Mimarlık’, 297.

25. Ibid.; Yazıcı, ‘Evolution of Architectural Establishment’, 61.

26. Ali Talat, Mühendis Mektebinde Tedris Olunan Ahşap İnşaat [Timber Construction Lecture Notes] (Istanbul, 1911), 104.

27. Ibid., 104–06.

28. Turkish Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives (BOA), HH.d. 21259, Çağlayan Palace Final Cost Estimate (prepared after the construction), 1863.

29. Ibid., p. 2; BOA, HH.d. 21257 Çağlayan Palace Cost Journal, 1862–63, p. 3.

30. Tredgold, Elementary Principles of Carpentry, 230.

31. Günergun, ‘Mekteb-i Harbiye'de Okutulan Mimarlık’, 157–58.

32. BOA, HH.EBA. 29/11, The Account Allocated for the Construction of Machine Section of Imperial Carpentry Shop (Mühendishane-i Hümayun), Date: 13th May 1887.

33. BOA, Y.PRK.MM. 1/18, The Final Cost Estimate of Imperial Residence in Yıldız Palace, 1 October 1887.

34. Ibid.

35. www.aktuel.com.tr/galeri/ozel/akdamar-kilisesi (accessed 1 December 2014).

36. BOA, Y.PRK.HH. 10/51, First Cost Estimate of a Bureaucrat's Residence in Nişantaşı Neighborhood, 28 May 1883; BOA, HH.d. 1151, p. 118, Final Cost Estimate of Timber Residence in Beşiktaş Neighborhood, 2 January 1892.

37. Servet-i Fünun [Ottoman weekly newspaper], 12 October 1899, no. 448, Istanbul Metropolitan Library Rare Publications Archive.