Edhem Agha Mansion

It is the most beautiful mansion built in Amasra until the end of the 19th century. This mansion, inspired by Montenegrin prince Nikola's mansion in Kotor, was completed in 1890. It is in the local empire style and was built by craftsmen from Bulaklı.

Edhem Ağa (death 1921), the miner who came to Amasra from Karadağ, is the first Muslim capitalist to open a coal mine in the village of Tarlaağzı in 1864.
After making quite a fortune…

Edhem Ağa Mansion (1889)

Edhem Ağa (died 1921), the miner who came to Amasra from Karadağ, is the first Muslim capitalist to open a coal mine in the village of Tarlaağzı in 1864.
After making quite a fortune…he commissioned his brother-in-law İbrahim Ağa (died: 1909) as the building manager to have the house he designed for his family built, and according to the legend, he gave himself a fez full of golden Ottoman liras.

While İbrahim Ağa went to Istanbul in 1886 and had sketches drawn according to his brother-in-law's suggestions, he also gave the architect a description of the summer mansion in Nikola Kotar (Dalmatia), the prince of Montenegro. When the size and design were determined, Greek and Turkish masters were brought from the Bulak Village of Safranbolu; on the other hand, pine timbers were cut and stones and lime were procured in the water sawmills on the shore of Filyos; The masters of Bulak laid the foundation for the land that Edhem Ağan bought on the shore of the small harbor in 1887 and completed the three-storey building in two years.

The stone-arched outer door of the house, which is a unique structure in the style called Turkish Empiric, leads to the front stony, and from there to the entrance floor through the low-arched sentence door. On this floor, there is a large hall called “Taşlık”, a kitchen, a hammam and a dining room. Two masonry shops have been added to the road front of the ground floor, the top of which is the terrace for the middle floor. There is an L-shaped sofa, four rooms, toilet and ablution sections on the middle floor and the upper floor, which can be reached by wooden stairs. There is access to the terrace overlooking the harbor from the middle floor sofa and to the marble balcony from the upper floor sofa. The sides of the terrace and balcony doors are enriched with marble columns, the balcony is also enriched with marble pediments, and the spaces between floors are enriched with marble moldings. Since those on the east side of the floor rooms are designed for winter, there are stone fireplaces, built-in wardrobes with bathrooms, and there are windows in the rooms facing west.

The interior partition walls of the building, which has masonry walls from the outside, are filled with wood and lime plaster, the floors and ceilings and the built-in wall cabinets are pine. The Boat ceilings of the sofa and rooms are flat, but the side friezes are plainly embroidered. The lower floor windows are flat, the middle and upper floor windows are arched. While the eaves were wooden in the similar style urban structures built in the same period, Emin İbrahim Ağa said, “The building collapses from the eaves!” Taking into account the proverb, he ensured that the main walls were protected with monolithic and brittle eaves exhibition stones, each weighing 130 kg.

The roof of the building is in the form of an umbrella and the entire weight of the roof is attached to the wooden column with a diameter of 30 cm in the middle with throw battens. This load-bearing column is not pressed against the structure and the roof load is suspended. The building, which was partially damaged in the 1968 earthquake, was repaired and its walls were reinforced by İbrahim Ağa's son Celil Tamer and Ethem Ağa's grandson Agah Simberk, based on the technical report and preserving its original structure.

Although Edhem Ağa house, which is a registered old work, has been preserved in its original form, its back garden with water well and pump and its large courtyard on the east façade have been expropriated by the Municipality in 1974, and since it has been made a Market Place, it has lost its natural environment. Family life in Edhem Ağa House has continued from generation to generation for more than a century. In the period of 1889-1921, Edhem Ağa and his wife Dilber Güliye Hanım and their children; Between 1921-1942, Edhem Ağa's son Hakkı Bey (Özkömür) and his wife Seniye and their daughters; After 1942, the family and descendants of Edhem Ağa's daughter Nebile Hanım (Simberk) and his wife Süleyman Bey resided.

Necdet SAKAOGLU

-How to go to Edhem Ağa Mansion?

Edhem Ağa Mansion is located in the City Center, 20m away from Amasra Women's Market.

-Is it open to tourism?

Edhem Ağa Mansion remains in the Küçük Harbor area. The mansion is currently used as a house. It is not open to tourism, but it is possible to take photos from the outside. The movie Unsent Letters was shot in this mansion. Kadir İnanır and Türkan Şoray communicate with each other directly from this mansion. To get to the mansion, you can browse the road map below.