Turkish Houses |
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The house form that is accepted as a creation of Anatolian Turkish culture was a wooden construction and, as such, examples from before the eighteenth century are extremely rare. The Turkish house in an urban setting was a reflection of the requirements of family life. The women were excluded from public life and their existence was confined within the walls of a single house. The various domestic chores performed jointly by the women of the extented family required the organization of the house around open interior spaces, enclosed and hidden from the outside world. The front of the houses facing the street were blank or had very few windows. An upstair room with view of the street had windows concealed by wooden lattice-work screens so that women could observe the activities on the street without being seen. The rooms had built-in divans, fireplaces and wall niches with very little movable funiture required. Their arrangement, size, and decorations were always austere. |
