Whittall Mansion, Moda

Whittall Mansion
Whittall Köşkü
General information
Location	Kadıköy
Address	Yusuf Kamil Paşa St., Moda, Kadıköy
Town or city	Istanbul
Country	Turkey
Coordinates	40.98212°N 29.02143°E / 40.98212; 29.02143
Construction started	1895
Completed	1900 (1900)
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Pape

Whittall MansionTurkish: Whittall Köşkü) is an Ottoman-era mansion in Istanbul, Turkey. It was built in 1900. Today, it is the house museum of the rock musician Barış Manço (1943 - 1999).

Background

James William Whittall , later Sir William Whittall, was a British businessman, whose ancestors settled in Smyrna, today İzmir, in 1809. He married to the in Buca, Smytna living British Edith Anne Barker on 9 April 1862. His wife gave birth to four children, Edith Mary, Ethel Marianne, Frederick Edwin and Linda Frances.

After working with his two brothers in the family-owned firm C. Whittall and Co. in Smyrna, he founded his own company in Constantinople, today Istanbul, in 1873.

Mansion

Whittall Mansion is located at Yusuf Kamil Paşa St. in Moda quarter of Kadıköy district in Istanbul, Turkey. In 1870, J.W. Whittall purchased a large ground in Moda, Kadıköy streching on a hillside between Moda Avenue and the sea shore of Marmara Sea. He built a mansion for his grown-up family, designed by Ottoman Greek Pape between 1895 and 1900.. The mansion was dubbed the "Tower House" ("Kule Ev"). A wooden house at the premises, he bestowed to his son Frederick Edwin and daughter-in-law Helen, née La Fontaine.* He built houses of all sizes in the premises for his children.

The Whittall Mansion has two stores and an attic. The first floor features a long hall streching to the terrace. The hall was flanked by living rooms. One of the rooms, having a charcoal-burning stove and decorated as an "Oriantal Room", belonged to Helen's grandmother Lilly, who played there Pinochle. There were about six Aubusson tapestry with holes in the middle hanging on the walls. The tapestries were bought by Enver Pasha during World War I, and was punched in the middle to put through stove pipe to warm wounded Turkish soldiers in the hospital. On the second floor were the sleeping rooms were. The terrace overlooked the lower garten with some magnolia trees and a small jetty on the sea shore, where sailboats of J.W. Whittall moored. The hillside garden was dubbed "Whittall Park".

History

Barış Manço Monument in front of the Whittall Mansion, today "Barış Manço House" as a historic house museum.

The mansion changed the owners many times. In 1965, fifth generation family member John Whittall regained the possession of the mansion. In 1984, rock musician Barış Manço (1943 - 1999) purchadsed the mansion. After Manço's death, the mansion, where he lived with his wife Lale and sons Doğukan Hazar, Batıkan Zorbey and produced his works, was transformed after restoration into the historic house museum. of Barış Manço (Turkish: Barış Manço Evi). It was opened to public on 9 June 2010.