Station buildings in the history of Turkish railways : catalogue of buildings constructed between 1850s-1950s

Date

2020

Author

Sezginalp, Şule

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Turkish Railways history began when the Ottoman Government gave privilege to a British company to operate the rail line between İzmir and Aydın in 1856. In order to give service to the passengers, station buildings were built at the same time when the railway lines started operating. Following the first station building Alsancak/Punta in İzmir which was constructed in 1858, hundreds of station buildings were built, mostly modelled on four project types, except special ones like Alsancak, Basmane, İzmit, Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci. In this thesis, station buildings constructed between 1850s and 1950s will be studied. Until the foundation of the Republic, railways and station buildings were built and operated by British, French and German companies. After the formation of “General Directorate of State Railways and Ports” in 1927, the railways began to be nationalized beginning with 1928 until 1941. With the establishment of a modern republican state, new station buildings started to take their places in the cities as the symbols of modernization. The architectural design projects of station buildings, whether designed in Late Ottoman or in Early Republican period, had been archived in TCDD (The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey) project archives. Because of the erosion in TCDD Project Archive, a thorough documentation is essential for the protection and sustainment of these buildings, which are witnesses to the history of Turkish railways and of the early years of the Republic. Therefore, the aim of this study is to catalogue the available and accessible projects of railway station buildings constructed 1858 onwards, by making periodical and typological classifications until 1950, when the transportation strategies changed in favor of highways in Turkey.

Subject Keywords

Railroads, Railroads Buildings and structures, Keywords: Turkish Railways, Station Buildings, Late Ottoman Period, Early Republican Period, Documentation, Catalogue .

URI

http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12625349/index.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/11511/45574

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Theses