Mansions on the Water

Architecturally, yalis were bellwethers of style. From the earliest, entirely Ottoman yali, they gradually adopted features that reflected Istanbul's rising fascination with European designs. From the 1730's to the early 1800's, a style now called "Turkish baroque" brought elaborate decorative schemes to the Bosporus and encouraged the replacement of traditional built-in cupboards and divans with European-style, free-standing furniture.

In the latter half of the 19th century, this gave way to a neo-Western classicism, the "empire" style-a term the Ottomans borrowed from the French -that produced several of the largest yalis. Toward the close of the 19th century, this was overshadowed by an eclectic "cosmopolitan" style wherein several yalis became ensembles of European towers and Ottoman onion domes, each ornamented with Islamic motifs. Finally, during the decade prior to World War I, a Turkish expression of art nouveau influenced some of the last of the Ottoman yalis to be built.

S'adullah Pasha Yali

Although some 18th-century yalis were influenced by European baroque and rococo styles, it was not until later in the century that a self conscious style- Turkish baroque- emerged to systematically assimilate the imported styles into Ottoman tradition. Though the baroque yalis varied greatly in size and in the details of their interior decors, externally all retained the simple timber facades, tiled roofs and cruciform floor plans of the traditional yali.

The upper-floor of the Sa’dullah Pasha Yali, which dates from the 1760's, was based on an oval otag, or traditional Turkish tent. Holdings carved and painted to look like ropes stretch from a wooden boss in the center of the ceiling, "tying" it to the curved walls. An enclosed musicians' gallery on the north side and carved doorways based on floral themes further enhance the baroque effect. This salon is the only one of its type to have survived.

Other traditionally Ottoman elements were also reworked in light of baroque fashion, which emphasized theatrical qualities. Painters decorated large niches in the four principal corner rooms and, in each, they painted stage curtains drawn back to reveal landscapes and idyllic Bosporus scenes.

Sherifler Pasha Yali

Across the water from the Sa’dullah Pasha Yali, on the European shore at Emirgan, stands the smaller Sherifler Yali. In this full-blown example of Turkish baroque-rococo melange, an 18th-century remodeling of a more traditional yali resulted in an astonishing candy-box interior.

Although the floor plan is still based on earlier conventions, the ceiling of the central hall received an elaborate decoration primarily in red and yellow. Each window was crested with rococo scallops, and small wall paintings depict Ottoman kiosks beside deserted pools. Painted brackets and clusters of fruit- like carvings reinforce the sense of extravagance.