The Balyans is a prominent family of architects who designed and built architectural works for the Ottoman sultans for three generations and achieved a unique interpretation of the Ottoman local architectural language, thereby shaping the architectural taste and preferences of the palace and marking the last century of Istanbul as an imperial capital. The Balyan architectural practice, participated by various family members, especially Krikor (1764-1831), his son Garabed (1800-1866) and grandsons Nigogos (1826-1858), Sarkis (1831-1899) and Hagop (1838-1875), was formed by their personal histories, as well as the professional knowledge passed down through generations.
The Balyans, who designed many important buildings such as Dolmabahce Palace, never wrote down texts revealing their architectural thoughts. In the absence of such texts, which would have helped us in understanding their design philosophy, the Balyan architecture was evaluated only in the light of their constructed buildings. For the first time, journalist and author Viscount Alfred de Caston (1821-1882) wrote the detailed biographies of the family members based on the their constructed works in his article published in Revue de Constantinople in 1875 and defined the methodology to be followed for the Balyan historiography for the years to come.
In addition to Caston’s approach, this book aims to provide an insight into the history of Balyan practice with a detailed review of unconstructed projects from the Balyan Archive, which was preserved with great care by architect Levon Guregyan (1869-1950) and later on by his family for more than a century up to the present time. The Balyan archive, with its unique and precious content reflecting the design process of the imperial constructions, was taken as a primary source, not only for the “drawing” but also for the “drafter”.
In the Balyan Archive, drawings of Beylerbeyi, Cıragan and Fer’iye palaces, projects for the extension of the Buyuk Mabeyn Kiosk of Yıldız Palace and the organization of the Dining Hall at Sale Kiosk where the mother-of-pearl inlay doors from Cıragan Palace were used, a renovation proposal for Bab-ı Ali (Sublime Porte), a plan of the Esma Sultan Mansion in Kabatas, Galatasaray High School, an important plan for the Ottoman museum history about the repository of old weapon collections at Hagia Irene (Aya Irini), projects for industrial facilities such as Dolmabahce Gasworks and Imperial Fez Factory (Feshane Fabrika-i Humayunu), and probably most important of all, drawings from the design process of the Aziziye Mosque, a little-known masterpiece of Sarkis and Hagop Balyan, which was the only selatin mosque commissioned by an Ottoman sultan to be built with four minarets after centuries, were identified and reintroduced into the Ottoman architectural history.