Row Houses

Fener and Balat district is one of the oldest settlements in Istanbul. The facades of the ancient row houses show basic common design criteria which can be grouped typologically to a make shape grammar study. The houses  are  first classified as if it is a corner house or row a house. Later they are sorted according to their storey heights; two storeys high, three storeys high, four storeys high. The houses may be with projections or without projections. The houses may have single symmetry axis or double symmetry axis. Usually the wooden houses doesn’t have projections, stone and brick houses have projections of one storey high, two storey high or three storey high. Projections may have balconies or roof on top. The balconies may be located only over projection or as cantilever balcony over and at the side of projection top. The shape of the projections may vary depending on the house type; a corner house or a row house. The projections may be located, in the middle, close to one edge, all along the facade, in the corner (turning to the other side), not on the symmetry axis or on one side only. The width of the projections may have  one unit window, two unit window or even three unit window. The houses that are built on steep sloppy land have stairs climbing up or down in front of their door. The doors of the houses are located on left or right but never below the projection. The door may have two leaves or one leaf. The houses can have cellar window with iron bars. The typological study about the row houses can be seen at "The Study" page in more details.