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Reading the Bosphorus Yalıs from the Water

Anyone who crosses the Bosphorus by ferry ends up asking the same question.

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Reading the Bosphorus Yalıs from the Water

Anyone who crosses the Bosphorus by ferry ends up asking the same question. Who were these wooden houses built for, set right at the water's edge, almost in the waves, and when and why were they built this way? The yalıs are the most familiar face of the Bosphorus, yet most of them are still private homes, so you cannot see inside. This piece is here to teach you how to read a yalı from the outside. We explain what each part of a yalı was for, where the colours come from, which examples are the oldest, and how you can see them today from a ferry, from the shore or from a museum gallery.

What the word means

The word came into Turkish from the Greek yalos, meaning shore or coast. Older texts also used sahilhane, formed from the Arabic sahil (shore) and the Persian hane (house), and when the building was very large it was called a sahilsaray, a shore palace. The architect and author Sinan Genim stresses that although similar buildings stood on the banks of the Meriç, Porsuk and Yeşilırmak rivers or along the Izmir waterfront, the yalı in today's sense is a building type that belongs to the Bosphorus.

According to the yalı entry in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, waterfront houses were built along the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus from the 16th century to the middle of the 18th, and the Bosphorus yalı found its true identity in the 18th century. Shore pavilions such as the Yalı Köşkü on the waterfront of Topkapı Palace are counted among its forerunners; Genim describes the Yalı Köşkü of 1592 as the first monumental building to carry the name yalı. With the Tulip Era, the reign of Ahmed III (1703-1730), the Bosphorus shore began to fill with the summer houses of statesmen, wealthy merchants and families close to the palace.

For a long time the word yalı was used interchangeably with konak and kasır, and it mostly meant a house the family moved into for the summer. The TDV entry notes that this move had the air of a ceremony, a ritual repeated every year. As for numbers today, the compilation on Turkish Wikipedia puts the surviving yalıs on both shores of the Bosphorus at around 360.

Anatomy of a yalı

To understand a yalı, think of it as a house with two faces. The sea side is open and lively and reaches out over the water with projecting bays; the land side closes itself off from the narrow street with high garden walls. In the TDV description, yalıs turn their long, usually two-storey volumes towards the water, while the harem quarters at the back are shut off from the road by tall walls. That is why, walking past a yalı on the land side, you usually see nothing but a wall, a gate and the tops of trees.

In the classic arrangement a yalı has two parts, the harem and the selamlık. At first the two stood in the same garden under separate roofs with separate doors; the kitchen and the servants' rooms were independent, and a high garden wall enclosed everything. Towards the end of the 18th century this began to change, and in the 19th century harem and selamlık gradually came under a single roof. Larger yalıs also had a divanhane, a reception pavilion.

Looking from the water, the first thing you will notice is how the upper floor leans out over the sea. Bosphorus yalıs usually consist of a mezzanine and, above it, a main floor that projects towards the water on wooden brackets. The ground floor is a service area, with a hall paved in Malta stone or marble and bright rooms opening onto it. A wide, gently rising wooden staircase leads to the upper floor, with its halls, reception and sitting rooms, bedrooms and sometimes a library. Balconies are rare; broad bay windows, the cumba, take their place.

The relationship with the water is particular to the yalı as well. For centuries the only way to reach a yalı was by sea, so a boathouse was essential; according to Genim, boathouses were mostly built under the harem wing or as a small harbour in the harem garden. At the end of the quay there might be a sea bath, and in a corner of the garden a fish house. Indoors, small pools and fountains were set into rooms and halls so the sound of water was never missing. Genim also recalls a custom concerning the quays: sailors and fishermen had the right to step onto them, and fishermen could spread out and gather their nets there when needed.

White, ochre red and grey

The simplest information on colour again comes from the TDV entry. Even when modest in size, yalıs looked like small palaces and were painted white or in the colour of aşı boyası, a natural ochre. Aşı boyası is a pigment found in the soil that contains iron oxide. The art historian Assoc. Prof. Zeynep Emel Ekim, interviewed by Anadolu Agency in 2024, explains that this paint, which comes in brown and yellow tones as well as red, protects timber from sun, damp and rain.

Applying it is laborious. The cleaned timber first receives a lead-based primer, then a hard putty made with linseed oil and white lead, which is sanded down; the paint itself goes on in two coats if needed. Because it can only be applied to wood, you will not find it on stone or marble buildings. Today cheap and easy synthetic reds have largely replaced it. Among the buildings where original ochre was applied with care, Ekim lists the Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalısı, the Count Ostrorog Yalısı in Kandilli and the Sadullah Paşa Yalısı in Çengelköy.

Not every yalı was red. The TDV entry notes that on the shores where non-Muslim families were concentrated, yalıs were solid buildings built in depth, with façades painted in unassuming shades such as grey-beige or grey-blue and with window and door frames left white. The Turkish Wikipedia article on yalıs says the colours usually ranged from dusty rose to burgundy. Read together, the two sources suggest that the old colour of the Bosphorus was not a single red but a palette running from white to deep red and from grey to burgundy. Most of the bright pastels you see today are recent choices.

Who lived where

The Bosphorus shore did not fill up at random. According to the TDV entry, the state did not allow anyone to build a yalı wherever they liked. In the 18th century sultans and statesmen preferred Beşiktaş, Ortaköy and Kuruçeşme; officials of the Sublime Porte lived in Bebek, members of the religious establishment in Rumelihisarı, and Arnavutköy was a village with a large non-Muslim population. Yeniköy, Tarabya and Büyükdere held the summer residences of foreigners and embassies, and some former embassy palaces in Büyükdere are still used as summer residences today. Sarıyer had the yalıs of families of more modest means. On the Asian shore the rural character is stronger, with gardens climbing the slope in terraces.

One reason the shore is known in such detail is the registers of the bostancıbaşı. When the sultan toured the Bosphorus in his imperial caique, the boat was steered by the bostancıbaşı, head of the palace guards, who briefed him on the yalıs, gardens, pavilions and landings along the shore. The regular registers kept for this purpose are among the most important documents for tracing who owned which yalı and when. Travel by boat had its own etiquette too. The TDV entry records that viziers rode in caiques with five pairs of oars, lower ranks in boats with four, three or two pairs, and that closing one's parasol when passing in front of a yalı was a mark of respect.

The oldest, the Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa Yalısı

The oldest surviving yalı on the Bosphorus is the one built on the Asian shore, between Kanlıca and Anadoluhisarı, by Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa, a grand vizier of the Köprülü family. TDV sources give its date as 1699 and describe it as the oldest surviving timber building on the Bosphorus, perhaps in all of Istanbul. Because of its link to the pasha's pious foundations it was also known as the Meşruta Yalı. After the Treaty of Karlowitz, on 29 April 1700, the Austrian envoy was brought here by sea in a ceremony and entertained.

The yalı was once a large complex with an 80-metre frontage on the sea and a harem building of twenty rooms. In the 19th century the main buildings burned or were pulled down; what survives is the single-storey divanhane, partly resting on piles at the water's edge. It is a single T-shaped hall. A pool with a fountain sits in the marble-paved square at the centre, and three arms rise slightly like alcoves. The building looks extremely plain from outside, but inside it is decorated with gilded painting, cupboard doors inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl, and panels of flowers spilling out of vases.

The TDV entry states that this timber divanhane, built before Western influence set in, is the only surviving example of its kind in Istanbul. The building stood neglected for many years in the 20th century. According to a caption in the same entry, some fragments of its interior decoration are in the collection of the Istanbul Museum of Foundation Construction Works. From the ferry, follow the shore north after passing Anadoluhisarı and look for the low, single-storey building sitting on piles at the water's edge.

The Sadullah Paşa Yalısı and its painted walls

The Sadullah Paşa Yalısı in Çengelköy is one of the earliest and best-preserved timber yalıs to have survived on the Bosphorus. Entries in the bostancıbaşı registers and its architectural features date it to the end of the reign of Abdülhamid I or the beginning of Selim III, that is, to the last quarter of the 18th century. It takes its name from Sadullah Paşa, who bought it in 1861. Its single-storey selamlık on the quay was demolished in the early 20th century; what has come down to us is the harem.

Its plan is one of the best lessons in yalı architecture. It is a central-hall plan, completely symmetrical about two intersecting axes. At the corners of the hall, which runs parallel to the sea, are two rooms each, with alcoves opening towards the sea and the garden. On the upper floor the hall becomes oval and is covered by a low dome that recalls a tent. A small musicians' gallery overlooking the hall suggests that the room was used for gatherings with food and music.

The real surprise is on the walls. The niches of the rooms hold painted scenes of the pavilions, kiosks and shore palaces along the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. One of them shows the Topkapı Shore Palace, which burned down in 1862, so the walls of the yalı serve as a record of buildings that no longer exist. The house gained its present appearance in a restoration carried out in 1949-1951 by the architects Turgut Cansever and Cahide Tamer, was restored again in 1995-1997 under Feyza Cansever, and is now cared for by the Tek-Esin Foundation. Its red façade is easy to pick out from ferries passing Çengelköy.

Kıbrıslı in Kandilli, Hekimbaşı in Kanlıca

On the Asian shore, just past Küçüksu, the Kıbrıslı Yalısı begins on the Kandilli waterfront. It was built in the last quarter of the 18th century; its first owner was İzzet Mehmed Paşa, one of the grand viziers of Abdülhamid I, and it took its present name after Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Paşa bought it in 1840. According to Turkish Wikipedia, with a shoreline of 64 metres it has the widest frontage of any yalı on the Bosphorus. Its best-preserved part is the selamlık, entered from the garden through a four-columned portico, with rooms at the four corners of the hall. From the ferry, notice how projecting bays animate the façade and how the tall, narrow windows are set in rows.

A little to the north, between Kanlıca and Anadoluhisarı, stands the Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi Yalısı. It takes its name from Salih Efendi, one of the chief physicians of the reign of Abdülmecid, who bought it in the 1850s. The TDV entry says this yalı was known above all for its flower gardens and lemon houses, and that the carnations and roses grown here paved the way for the greenhouses later built in the area. A rose was even named after Salih Efendi, a keen botanist. The yalı was laid out with the selamlık to the north and the harem to the south; the selamlık was demolished in the early 20th century and turned into a garden.

The lion quay at Yeniköy

On the European shore at Yeniköy, the Said Halim Paşa Yalısı, also called the Arslanlı Yalı for the two lion statues on its quay, represents another era. In 1876 it passed to Abdülhalim Paşa, one of the sons of Mehmed Ali Paşa of Egypt, who had it rebuilt in its present form by the master builder Petraki Adamandidis. It is named after his son Said Halim Paşa. With its calm neoclassical exterior and heavily arabesque interior it is often compared to a small palace. Here harem and selamlık were planned under one roof, a typical example of the 19th-century change. A fire in 1995 destroyed most of it; the renovation that began in 1998 took as its model not the state just before the fire but its appearance in the 1890s.

This yalı also tells the story of the Western influence that began with Dolmabahçe Palace. The TDV entry notes that in the 19th century showy masonry yalıs were built, fitted out with every element of the neoclassical style and often faced in marble, and that the classical façade was transformed by imported features. From the water, seeing a timber yalı with projecting bays next to a columned, symmetrical masonry one is the easiest way to read this change.

Moon pavilions, sunset kiosks and the end of an era

A yalı was never only its main buildings. Genim explains that yalıs on the European shore each had a mehtabiye and those on the Asian shore a gurub köşkü. As their names say, these small one-room pavilions were for watching the moonlight or the sun setting over the opposite shore. Think about how the two shores relate to the light: on the Asian side, which faces west, the sunset takes centre stage, while on the European side it is the moonlight falling on the water at night.

This way of life came to an end early in the 20th century. The TDV entry writes that the end of the First World War also brought the end of waterside living. Families facing economic hardship could no longer maintain their yalıs; most shore palaces and yalıs changed hands, lost their original use and plan, and some disappeared in fires. Fire, the unavoidable enemy of timber, became the main reason the Bosphorus lost so many of its yalıs.

The Bosphorus Law and conservation

Today the basic framework for protecting the yalıs and their surroundings is the Bosphorus Law, No. 2960, adopted on 18 November 1983 and published in the Official Gazette on 22 November 1983. Its purpose is to protect and enhance the cultural and historical values and natural beauty of the Bosphorus area in the public interest, and to limit building that would increase population density.

The law divides the area into layers. Behind the shore and the coastal strip lies the foreground view zone, behind that the background view zone, and furthest out the zone of influence. Its general principles state that shores in the Bosphorus area may be used only in the public interest, that priority is given to repairing cultural and natural assets, that coal and fuel depots, shipyards and industrial plants may not be built, and that non-compliant buildings are to be demolished. To understand the shoreline and the wooded slopes you see from the ferry, you need to know about this law.

Where and how to see the yalıs

Most yalıs are still private homes today and are not open to visitors. In Genim's words, yalıs were built to be seen from afar by their front façades and watched from the sea lane, which works almost like a broad avenue. So the best vantage point is the water.

  • Şehir Hatları's Long Bosphorus Tour leaves from Eminönü, calls at Beşiktaş, Üsküdar, Kanlıca, Sarıyer and Rumeli Kavağı, and goes on to Anadolu Kavağı. It is a good way to take in the whole strait.
  • If you want to pass closer to the shore, look at the short lines. The Çengelköy-İstinye line zigzags between the two shores, calling at Çengelköy, Arnavutköy, Bebek, Kandilli, Anadolu Hisarı, Kanlıca, Emirgan and İstinye, and runs right past the yalı shores. The Bebek-Emirgan line, which runs on Sundays and holidays, also calls at Anadolu Hisarı and Kanlıca.
  • Days and times of sailings can change, so check the current timetable on the Şehir Hatları website.

If you would rather walk, the shore from Bebek to Rumeli Hisarı and Emirgan on the European side is a good choice. The Şerifler Yalısı in Emirgan is, in the words of the TDV entry, also a road yalı: the road runs between the house and the sea, so you can see the façade from the pavement. English Wikipedia describes this yalı, built in 1780, as the oldest surviving yalı on the European shore; according to the TDV entry it belongs to the Ministry of Culture. In Arnavutköy, too, the coastal road built in the early 1980s runs in front of the yalıs.

On the Asian shore, yalıs mostly stand between the sea and the road, so from the land side you usually see only garden walls. It is far more rewarding to watch the Kandilli, Kanlıca and Çengelköy yalıs from the opposite shore, especially from the waterfront at Bebek and Rumeli Hisarı.

The closest you can get to the inside of a yalı is the Sadberk Hanım Museum in Büyükdere. Its main building is the Azaryan Yalısı, built at the end of the 19th century; it was restored and converted into a museum between 1978 and 1980 under the supervision of the architect Sedad Hakkı Eldem and opened on 14 October 1980 as Turkey's first private museum. As you go through the galleries, pay attention not only to the collection but to the scale of the rooms, the staircases and the way the windows frame the Bosphorus. If you want to see a waterfront building on the scale of a palace, Küçüksu Pavilion and Beylerbeyi Palace on the Asian shore are also open to visitors. Check current opening days and hours on their official websites.

Practical notes

  • Think about the light. The Asian shore faces west, so its yalıs are lit in the afternoon and early evening; the European-side yalıs look best in morning light.
  • Sit on the shore side of the ferry. Low buildings such as the Amcazade divanhane on its piles are easy to miss from a distance; binoculars or a good zoom help.
  • Yalıs are homes. Do not approach the quays or garden gates, take your photographs from public space and respect the residents' privacy.
  • Weather on the Bosphorus changes quickly. On windy days, follow the Şehir Hatları announcements for changes to sailings.
  • To turn this piece into a day out, take the Long Bosphorus Tour in the morning, get off at Kanlıca or Emirgan on the way back and use the short lines to pass the yalı shores up close.

Sources

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