Architecture in Muğla

Hello sir, we come to be a shot in the arm after boring architectural writings. Let's examine the architecture and current traditional houses of Muğla, which has hosted countless civilizations with its thousands of years of history.

First of all, let's explain what we are talking about when we say Muğla houses. Sir, Muğla houses create a unique style in Turkish traditional architecture with its carpentry, designs, chimneys becoming symbol of the city and ceiling decorations. Today, it draws attention that they are mainly well protected. The new buildings inspired directly by traditional architecture still appeal to this traditionalism in Muğla more than other regions.

We should point that sofas in Muğla houses are called "life". This city has its own unique and original architecture with its court entrances as called kuzulu door (lamb door), stoves, chimneys, long and wide eaves, ceiling decorations, wooden-decorated verandas, and cabinet-shaped bathrooms embedded in the walls.

It can be stated that interior architecture for privacy as in all Turkish houses take place on the top in the general features of Muğla houses. In fact, there are scarcely any houses on the ground floors with windows towards the street. In spite of this, the windows facing the court are quite high. These windows enriched with open or semi-open living spaces and wide eaves are placed as close to the north and open to south in order to balance the view and the sun dominance.

Another prominent feature of Muğla houses is the use of mainly stone or second degree wood in the buildings. All court walls and load-bearing walls were built with macadam and rubble walls. The tops of walls except the roof are covered with tiles in these houses where mission tiles were used as roof cover. Moreover, the characteristic chimneys accepted as the symbol of Muğla today were made by mission tiles and covered with a unique cap.

In addition to all these, Muğla houses are basically divided into two. These are Turkish houses and Greek houses.

Turkish Houses

These houses especially spread towards the skirts of Hisar Mountain. They are the structures that form the essence of the traditional texture in harmony with a trio of urban silhouette, red tile roof and white wall with green trees hanging over. Although some of the parts called 'life' were closed afterwards, it is observed that this part was built directly in some built recently.

Greek Houses

Greek merchants started to settle in Muğla over time and wanted to build accommodation for their families. Thus, they chose Konakaltı and Saburhane locations as their settlement and started their construction. They built stone houses unique to their own culture. The most important feature that distinguishes these houses from Turkish houses is their being closed inward. These Greek houses with a facade integrating with the street instead of a court show a mass order. Another distinctive feature is that all of their structures are made of Ashlar masonry. Accordingly, the clock tower located in Arasta and built by the Greek Filivari Master in 1895 is considered one of the most beautiful gifts of the Greek population in Muğla to the city.