Bornova from Mansion to Museum, from the Levantine Avenue to the Campus

Begin the route by leaving Bornova metro station and walking north towards Mustafa Kemal Caddesi. Along the avenue the high garden walls of several mansions follow one another; the Paterson Mansion is the largest of them and hides a garden of more than 25 thousand square metres behind its wall. Construction began in 1859 under John Paterson, a merchant who had come from Leith in Scotland; the family traded in grain, exported farm produce and mined chromium. The rooms were furnished with fireplaces and furniture brought from England, and some sixty servants are known to have worked in the house. The building had 38 rooms, most of its materials were brought from continental Europe and England, and the front facade was altered seven times by its owners. At that time the garden covered 133 decares and held racehorses, farm animals, a greenhouse and fields. The area left to the mansion today is 25,400 square metres, less than a fifth of the old estate. These figures tell you how small a part of it you see while walking outside the wall.

The mansion has long been under restoration, so build this stop from outside. Looking through the gate, the three storey building with a tower and the main block can be made out on the left; in the work that began at the end of 2016 the restoration of the tower building and the bath inside it were finished first, while the reconstruction of the main building was left for later. In the first step of the work most of the later, non original additions to the building were removed. Research excavations in the garden had found three outbuildings, two ornamental pools with fountains and a cistern; these too were taken into the project. Because the completion date has been postponed several times, ask in advance whether you can go in; even if it is closed, the facade and the garden wall fill this stop.

Keep the story of the building in mind as you walk along the avenue. The mansion was used as a home until 1960, then changed hands between office, staff housing and factory, and the layers on the facade are the traces of these changes. The family emigrated to England in 1963, the mansion served NATO staff as an office for about five years, and in 1973 some sections were demolished to turn it into a carpet factory. An expropriation decision followed in 1978, the fire of 1986 ruined the main entrance sections, and in 1991 the Ministry of Culture and Tourism started the first restoration. In the same period, with the approval of the High Council for Conservation, the Metropolitan Municipality landscaped an area of 54 thousand square metres around the mansion. In 2017 the Ministry handed the right of use to the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality for forty nine years, and the current work continues under that protocol.

For photographs, shooting from the avenue side is better in the afternoon because the sun is in the south; in the morning the facade stays in shadow. Walk along the wall and round the corner and the roof of the tower building appears above the trees, the best frame of this route. There are few places to sit on the pavement, so leave resting for the garden of the next stop. To move on, follow the avenue eastwards; once you turn into Gençlik Caddesi the arched gate of the Mattheys Mansion appears in a few minutes. Most of the other garden walls you see on the way also belong to mansions of the same period, and this is how the Levantine fabric of Bornova is read at street level.

Source: Wikipedia, Paterson Köşkü; BirGün, Paterson Köşkü restorasyonu.

On Gençlik Caddesi the arched stone gate greets you; the stone benches on either side are the traditional seats of the Bornova mansions, called "pesulaki", and one of the oldest parts of the mansion facing the garden. In spring wisteria covers the top of the gate, and if you come early in the morning in those weeks you will find both the flowers and an empty garden. The Mattheys Mansion is thought to have been built in 1780; some sources give 1860, because the mansion went through a major transformation in the mid 1800s. For a long time it was known as the Wood-Paterson House; the building that John Maltas rebuilt as a summer house passed to his daughter Eugenie Wood in 1840. Eugenie's daughter Hortense Wood was a painter, poet and composer; she had taken piano lessons from Franz Liszt and on 16 September 1922 she received Mustafa Kemal Pasha in this house. That day the guests included Fevzi, İsmet and Asım pashas and Halide Edip, and during the visit a game of chess is said to have been played with Hortense's nephew Fernand de Cramer. Liszt is also said to have played the piano in the part of the mansion called the Cairo Room. Tony Mattheys, who gave the mansion its present name, was the father of the later owners Renee Steinbüchel and Sonia Whittall; in 2018 the building was bought from their children and restoration began. Thanks to its garden wall of river stones and its arched gate, the mansion became one of the few Bornova mansions to reach the 2000s.

Buy your ticket and walk round the garden first. The Bornova mansions were entered through a gate called the prestige gate, the garden was considered as important as the house itself, and the symbol of this garden is its cypress trees. A nine hole mini golf course was built in the garden in memory of the Bornova Golf Club, which closed in 1970; each hole carries a model of a Bornova mansion made by the ceramic artist Verda Sipahi and a symbol describing that mansion. The model of the Paterson Mansion, which you looked at from outside a moment ago, is here too, so you see the inside of the first stop here. The symbol of Mattheys' own hole is, naturally, its arched gate.

Inside, spread across ten exhibition rooms, are Anatolian carpets of the 16th to 19th centuries selected from the Arkas Carpet Collection; woven in Western and Central Anatolia, these pieces come from more than thirty years of collecting. Go through the rooms in order; the plaster cornices and high ceilings deserve as much attention as the carpets themselves, and the five year restoration between 2018 and 2023 brought back exactly these details. One room is devoted to a weaving loom, yarns and tools; to understand the weaving tradition give more time to this room than to standing in front of the carpets. On another wall hangs a panel of 18 carpet designs drawn for Oriental Carpet Manufacturers, and in the screening room a short documentary on the Anatolian carpet plays. Rather than leaving the documentary to the end, watch it in the middle; you will read the patterns more easily in the later rooms.

The photography rule for the exhibition rooms is posted at the entrance and the garden is free; because the light is kept low indoors you need to shoot without flash. The mansion is closed on Mondays; check the current hours and fee on its official site. The shade of the cypresses and the stone benches in the garden are enough for a rest. On leaving, turn right on Gençlik Caddesi and walk a few hundred metres; when you come opposite the Anglican church you have reached the La Fontaine Mansion.

Source: Wikipedia, Mattheys Köşkü; Visit İzmir, Arkas Sanat Bornova.

Read the La Fontaine Mansion together with its two neighbours; opposite stands the Anglican church and next door the Murat Mansion, built by the British Edwards family in 1880. This trio was the centre of the neighbourhood where the Levantines of Bornova lived, and a little further on the Big House, today the rectorate of Ege University, belonged to the same families. The first owner of the mansion recorded in the registers, James La Fontaine, was the grandson of Charlton Whittall, who bought the Big House in 1836. According to Ege University's records the La Fontaine family was a British family of Swiss origin, and the mansion was in their hands at the beginning of the 20th century. The Anglican church opposite bears the name of Saint Mary Magdalene. The Big House, for its part, had been built at the beginning of the 18th century as a convent for Dutch nuns; it passed to the Treasury in 1948 and today serves the rectorate together with the new buildings added on either side. The construction date and the architect are unknown; even this uncertainty says something about the mansion, because like many mansions in Bornova this one is a house that grew by additions.

First look at the facade from the opposite pavement. The building consists of a basement and two floors, the two floors are clearly separated from each other, and on the second floor there is a cast iron balcony facing the main avenue. The main entrance is emphasised by an arched door and the facade is kept plain; compared with the Murat Mansion next door you see two different styles of the same neighbourhood. Photograph the ironwork of the balcony in afternoon light; in the morning the facade stays in shadow.

The story of the mansion changing hands is short but sums up Bornova's twentieth century. After the death of James La Fontaine the house passed to his wife Clara and their children, in 1941 Clara's niece Ruby Gladys Whittall bought it from the family, and in 1963 Ege University took it over for its need of buildings. Until 1975 the university's construction office worked here; then it was allotted in turn to the School for the Blind, to gendarmerie and artillery units, and to the Institute of Public Health. In 1996 it was returned to the university and for a while served as the Institute of Social Sciences and the deanery of the Faculty of Education. Since the restoration of 2010 it has served as the Ege University Atatürk's Principles and History of the Revolution Application and Research Centre and Museum.

Once inside, do not look for the original decoration; most of the frescoes, plaster reliefs and ceiling ornaments were lost over time, and the interior you see today is a mansion arranged for its museum function. The museum's visiting days may depend on the university's academic calendar, so check on the centre's page whether it is open before you go; if it is closed, the facade, the balcony and the garden still fill the stop. As much as it tells the history of the mansion, it also reminds you that Ege University restored eight mansions in Bornova true to their original form and put them to use; the Murat Mansion has been the centre of student societies since 2005 and you can sit in its cafeteria. The most convenient place to rest is precisely the garden of this neighbouring mansion. In the same surroundings the Wilkinson Mansion, built by Herbert Whittall in 1865, has been used since its restoration in 2006 as an art centre hosting exhibitions from outside the campus. The House with the Well, once part of the Whittall estate, was for a time the club house of the British community of Bornova and is today a research centre for women's studies. To move to the next stop, enter through the campus gate and follow the campus roads to the southwest; the stone and brick facade of the Sirkehane appears in the middle of the green after about ten minutes.

Source: Wikipedia, La Fontaine Köşkü; Visit İzmir, La Fontaine Köşkü; Ege Üniversitesi Köşkleri.

The Sirkehane takes its name from the 1960s; the Department of Food and Fermentation Technology of the Faculty of Agriculture produced vinegar and pickles in the rear part of the building, and the front part was staff housing. The building was put up between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, and despite every search no information could be found about its first owners; it passed to the Treasury in 1943 and was given to Ege University by exchange in 1990. The building was also used as housing until the 1990s; according to the university's records the restoration project was planned to begin in 2007. It was repaired when a large part of it was in ruins, completed on 22 June 2010, and in November of that year received private museum status with the approval of the Ministry of Culture. When the repairs were finished the building first opened as the Ege University Balkans and Anatolian Clothes Museum, and its present name of Ethnography Museum was given after that approval. The emphasis on clothing in the first name still describes the core of the collection; 2,100 of the 2,499 objects on display are garments. After the ornate facades of the Levantine mansions the stone and brick facade and the garden are restful to the eye; it stands in the middle of the campus like a farmhouse.

Visiting days, hours and admission conditions can change, so check the current information on the university's museum page before you set out. Inside are displayed 2,100 pieces of traditional clothing from the Balkan countries and the Turkic world, 110 folk instruments, and together with jewellery, accessories, weapons, chests and cupboards a total of 2,499 objects. Start your visit with the clothing section; following the differences of headdresses and aprons in the costumes arranged by region tells the migration routes from the Balkans to the Aegean without a map. Look at the instrument cases second; the 110 pieces ranging from strings to percussion are the material of folk dance and folk music research, and the museum was founded for that very purpose.

The third section is the wedding house and the place where most visitors spend the longest time. The wedding customs of the 19th century are re-enacted in the setting of a traditional İzmir house; the henna night, the dowry display, the preparations for the wedding meal and the writing of the dowry list are set up in separate corners. On the same floor the workshops of woodworking, shoemaking, coppersmithing and tailoring are re-created; these four trades are the trades of the craftsmen who made the doors, shoes and curtains of the mansions you have just visited, and the two halves of the route are joined here. According to the museum's description these workshops were re-created to help keep the traditional trades alive. The temporary exhibition hall holds periodic exhibitions on folk culture and the meeting hall hosts talks and recitals; glance at the programme by the door.

Ask the attendant before taking photographs; the glass of the cases reflects, and the best result comes from standing close to the glass and at an angle. Go out to the garden; you can sit and rest in the green area decorated with traditional farming tools, and the trees of the campus give shade in the afternoon. The Faculty of Agriculture has old ties with this campus; the Yellow Mansion, built in the last quarter of the 19th century, served as the first building of the Bornova School of Agriculture and is today the deanery of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. The mansion built in 1880 by the French Pandespanian family, one of those the university restored, now serves students and staff as a cafe and restaurant; for a lunch break you can ask the campus staff where it is. The museum building is still better known as the Sirkehane today, so using that name makes things easier when you ask the way on campus. To move to the last stop, leave by the west gate of the campus and walk in the direction of Bornova station; it takes about twenty minutes to the entrance of the Aşık Veysel Recreation Area, and if you are tired you can also get close on the buses that leave from the Rektörlük stop.

Source: Ege Üniversitesi, Etnografya Müzesi; Visit İzmir, Sirkehane; Ege Üniversitesi Köşkleri.

The last stop of the route is not for architecture but for breathing. The Aşık Veysel Recreation Area is a park of 231 thousand square metres; construction began in 2008, it was opened by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality on 25 September 2010 and since then it has been used as the largest green area of Bornova. The park takes its name from the folk poet Aşık Veysel; born Veysel Şatıroğlu in 1894 in the village of Sivrialan in the Şarkışla district of Sivas, he lost the sight of both eyes to smallpox at the age of seven. With the bağlama his father bought him to keep him occupied he first played the folk songs of other poets, became known in 1930 at a poets' evening organised in Sivas by Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, and for a time taught the saz at the Village Institutes. Uzun İnce Bir Yoldayım, Dostlar Beni Hatırlasın and Kara Toprak are among his best known works; 2023, the fiftieth anniversary of his death, was celebrated in Türkiye as the Year of Aşık Veysel. After the high walls of the mansions the horizon suddenly opens here; enter through the main gate of the park and first follow the walking path to the right, and this path brings you to the artificial pond of 1,500 square metres. The amphitheatre steps around the pond are the best seats in the park; the afternoon light comes over the water and the photograph of the pond is taken from here.

After the pond walk towards the south of the park; the Ice Sports Hall of 12 thousand square metres and the semi olympic swimming pool are on this side. The pool, started in 2019 and opened in 2021, is the last major addition; both are indoor facilities, so learn the conditions of use and the hours from the municipality's page. The sports grounds also stand side by side: there are three basketball courts, two tennis courts and a mini football pitch, and if you have brought a ball you may have to wait your turn. Three separate playgrounds are spread over different corners of the park; if you come with children choose the one nearest the pond.

In the north of the park stands the largest open air theatre of İzmir; the amphitheatre for 5,000 people was renewed in the summer of 2026 with its seats, the stage roof and the planting around it, and all 5,200 seats were replaced. On the stage run by İzmir Kültür AŞ the concert calendar continues through the summer, and in 2026 a programme of 85 nights was planned up to the beginning of November. In the renewal the stage roof was serviced, the canteens and toilets were overhauled and separate food and drink areas were set up for the first time this season. Books from the İzmir Kent Kitaplığı publications are also offered to visitors on site, and if you arrive early before a concert you can browse them. If the weather allows, the calendar may be extended to the end of November, so it is worth checking the programme in autumn as well. If you have timed the route for a summer evening it is possible to end the day with a concert; check that day's programme and ticket in advance, as the park entrance gets crowded on concert evenings.

For those who prefer not to walk, a 1.5 kilometre cycle path circles the park; since bicycles can be carried on the metro you can also do the whole route by bicycle. The resting terraces and the cafeteria are on the pond side; the park has free wireless internet. For those arriving by car the park also has a car park, but since the route is built around the metro you will not need it. At sunset return to the amphitheatre steps; the pond and the trees behind it give the last photograph of the day. For the return leave by the south gate of the park and walk to Bornova metro station; the journey continues without a change on the M1 line to Konak and Üçyol.

Source: Wikipedia, Aşık Veysel Rekreasyon Alanı; Wikipedia, Aşık Veysel; Karar, açık hava tiyatrosu yenilemesi.