Istanbul is rare among world cities for having apartment buildings named after animals, plants, and fruit, even feelings. From the early 1900s to the 1970s, these names were painted on apartment entrances as elegant, idiosyncratic signs. In the present day, these unacknowledged works of art are threatened by rampant urban renewal and gentrification.

This book contains a collection of more than three thousand such hand-painted apartment-name signs from various historical districts of Istanbul; a landmark illustrated volume on this city’s history and architecture. 

Hundreds of accessory photographs; belonging to historic structures, vernacular architecture and associated urban details are shared alongside the extensive collection of hand-painted signs.

Detailed information about the art and trade of sign painters, and the lives of individual artists is also provided. In documenting the work of certain early 20th-century sign-painters such as M. Haytayan, A. Levi and G. Vrioni, this study also documents the stories of Armenian, Jewish and Greek artisans who once lived in Istanbul.

Published in two volumes, this work will be a source of reference for architects, designers, artists, photographers, historians, students of urban studies and more, for generations to come…

In two volumes; 615 and 497 pages; 5000+ colour photographs.

Künye

TABLE OF CONTENTS

VOL.1

Dedication and Acknowledgements

Nostalgia and Urban Renewal

The Art and Lives of Turkey’s Sign Painters

Sign Painters Found in This Study

Methods

Notes and Guidelines

DISTRICTS OF ISTANBUL

Yeşilköy

Bakırköy

Zeytinburnu

Samatya

Fatih and Çapa

Kasımpaşa

Tarlabaşı

Taksim: Pera, Elmadağ, Galata to Karaköy

Cihangir

Şişli

VOL.2

Nişantaşı

Beşiktaş

“Central Istanbul”

Ortaköy

Bebek and the Bosphorus Coast

Üsküdar and Surroundings

Kadıköy and Moda

Bağdat Avenue and Surroundings