10/01/2023
Sabuncukis Mansion
It is on the coast on Yılmaz Türk Street in Büyükada Maden Mahallesi, in the Adalar district of Istanbul. Building Sultan II. It was built in 1904 by Yorgi Sabuncakis from Aleppo, one of the famous masons of the Abdülhamit period. The mansion was designed by Athens University Faculty of Architecture faculty member Prof Fotiadis, and the construction was undertaken by Simota Kalfa. The upper-floor masonry mansion was built in the Greek style. The symbols of masonry were used in the decoration and architectural details of the mansion, which was used as a summer masonic lodge. Since the garden and ground of the mansion are below the road, an entrance is made from the first floor via a small bridge. That's why the mansion was also called Köprülü House.
The mansion, which has an entrance facade similar to the ancient Greek temples, is seated on four columns, two of which are round, two of which are angular, with Corinthian caps, and the entrance section, which has a triangular pediment on it, is a very striking element that gives it the characteristics of a mansion. Above the triangular pediment is a picture of a luminous eye. Because of this eye, which symbolizes the all-seeing eye of God and is also one of the symbols of Freemasonry, the mansion is also called the House with Eyes. There are small acroteres at the corners of the triangular pediment, and a pointed arched stele with an acroter at the top. At the bottom of the stele, on five acacia trees side by side, there is a crowned male and a female figure with a hive and a bee relief between them. In addition, there are 10 bee figures on the garden gate made of cast iron. Due to all these symbols and elements, the mansion is also called Köprülü House, Gözlü House and Arılı House among the people.
The terrace of the rectangular-opened pavilion, which is extended to the sides with balconies and placed on angular pillars, and its windows with low arched pediments break the ordinariness. The ceiling, which sits on an octagonal drum in the great hall at the entrance, is in the shape of a dome. On the wooden ceiling are the initials of the words expressing the directions and three swallows. In addition, the mirrored vault around the octagonal drum bears the names of the holy trinities from Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Phoenician, Egyptian and Hindu mythologies. The mansion was transferred to the Treasury in 1924 and burned down in 1972. The mansion has undergone a recent restoration.
