Edwards Villa ( tr, Murat Köşkü) is a building located in

Bornova Bornova is a metropolitan district of İzmir in İzmir Province in Turkey. It is the third largest district in İzmir's Greater Metropolitan Area of and is almost fully urbanized at the rate of 98.6 percent, with corresponding high levels of devel ...

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

. It currently serves as a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

cafeteria and community centre.

History

Edwards Villa was built by the Edwards Family in 1880, at which time it became the family's own residence. After Charles Edwards died, the villa was given the name "Murat Villa". In 1980, it was expropriated by the local government and the İzmir Province Vulnerable Child Protection Unit. In 1983, it was transferred to the General Directorate of the Social Services Society for the Protection of Children. In 2001, The Society for the Protection of Children and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality started a project to comprehensively restore the villa. This project lasted fifteen years. After restoration in 2005, it was given to

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University ( tr, Ege Üniversitesi) is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the ...

and currently serves as a cafeteria and a community center.

Location

The villa is located in Erzene Mahallesi at no.4 66th Street, opposite the St. Mary Magdalene

Anglican Church Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

Architecture

The symmetry of the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means 'frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

is accentuated by the double doors of the entrance. The porch is surrounded by

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

and approached by a double staircase. The stairs on the porch open onto the southern façade of the main hall and are typical of the Italian architecture used in the entire structure. The porch is a specimen of late Italian civic architecture.

Interior

The interior of the building has a number of ornaments made out of plaster and wood. The ceilings have various eye-catching motifs of animals such as lions and dragons. The ground floor hall is adorned with black-and-white marble plaques, intricate niches and large wooden doors. The fireplace is made out of cast iron. The first floor rooms are decorated simply in stark contrast with the hall's ornate ceiling centers. The restoration process involved stripping the plaster and cladding from the basement and covering the chimney with bricks, as well as replacing the lighting fixtures, which left the architecture inconsistent. Batılı Kültürün 19. Yüzyıl İzmir’inde Mekansal Temsili Bornova ve Buca Levanten Evleri, Ege Mimarlık , 2004/3-51

Gallery

References

{{coord missing, Turkey Buildings and structures in İzmir Ege University