About
Houses located in the old settlements of the city, particularly the inner walls of the castle, are called Ankara houses. A handful of these houses are still preserved. They are Ankara houses from the 17th- 18th-19th centuries; two-floored houses built mostly of wood and mudbrick. On the ground floor, there were rooms for servants while the landlord lived on the second floor. Ankara houses generally have a stairway attached to the outer wall that climbs up to a terrace called seyregah or seyrengah. This terrace is open on all sides but is sheltered with a roof. Seyregah and windows of the house are vents to the street. Guest rooms, meeting rooms and bedrooms are located on the second floor. Ceilings, ceiling roses, doors and other sections of houses are decorated with geometrical, rumi and hatai motifs. Several such houses are used for touristic purposes nowadays. Examples of Ankara houses are found in Hamamönü, which is in the old town of Altındağ. Nearby towns like Ayaş, Beypazarı and Güdül are also home to traditional houses. Around the bazaar area located at the bottom of the valley and in valley slopes up north, traditional houses of Ayaş maintain their organic forms, resembling typical Turkish houses regarding their architecture. The two-floored Ayaş houses, partly built of stone and partly of wood, include a stable, a cellar and rooms for servants (in wealthy houses) on the ground floor. On the second floor, which is the main living space, there is the kitchen, the bath and two (or three) rooms on both sides of the anteroom. All the ceilings are made of wood. In the exterior of the building, there are wooden bay windows called ‘cumba’ and wooden-caged windows. In the town centre of Güdül, historic houses that have the characteristics of Turkish houses are still standing today in the archaeological urban site. The old quarter of the town of Beypazarı, which is founded on steep slopes and valleys, is a place of settlement that offers a historic and visual feast with its rich landscape and unique texture of old houses and bazaars. The hundred-year-old houses of Beypazarı have the typical aspects of Ottoman and traditional Turkish houses. These are two or three floored houses with cumbas (bay windows) and attics called ‘kuşkana’. The houses are wooden structures on stone foundations with plastered walls and tiled roofs. There are rooms for servants and a cellar on the ground floor. On the second floor, there is the kitchen, the bath and the rooms on both sides of the rectangular or square anteroom.