Özet:

Abstract The aim of this study is to bring together the limited information in visual and written sources about the now nonextant mills in the Ottoman period İzmir city center, and to reveal their history by making observations and comments on their contribution to the architectural image of the city that was taking shape with the industrialization processes. The information about the mills in the İzmir city center is basically obtained from two different sources. The first of these is what historical written sources and contemporary researchers convey about the mills, particularly the mills of İzmir. These are mostly limited to quantitative data such as the number of mills, paid taxes, and grain processing capacity, which do not give any clues about architectural features. The second group of sources are drawings and photographs. By scanning the city plans, engravings and photographs of the city center, the locations of the mills were in these documents, as well as the 19th century city plans that are drawn with a character close to today’s techniques. In some of the engravings and plans, the mills are shown schematically, while in others the architectural details and dimensions are conveyed more carefully. Undoubtedly, photographs provide much more precise data on this subject, but unfortunately, more closer photographs of the Ottoman period Izmir mills were not available. In fact, this absence can be interpreted as an indication of the perception that mills appear as industrial structures devoid of aesthetic qualities. Mills are generally located in very small sizes in silhouette photographs, and since they come in simple designs to serve their industrial purposes, it is very difficult to find the kind of information from which rich architectural interpretations can be drawn. However, thanks to these photographs, at least the heights of the structures can be estimated approximately. The emergence of city plans close to today’s drawing techniques in the 19th century constitutes another important source group in this context. The Graves plans of 1836 and the Saad plans of 1876 especially provide important data about the mills. Thanks to the Graves map, it was possible to identify the earliest steam-powered mill in the city, and thanks to the Saad map, the plan, shape, and dimensions of many mills were able to be determined. Mills are structures that are far from decoration and are not mentioned much in architectural history narratives due to their functional architecture. For this reason, in many studies dealings with the Ottoman period Izmir, mills are either not included at all or they are conveyed with quantitative data. However, with the increase of engravings showing the city, especially with the 17th century, it is impossible not to notice the prominent role of the mills in the city silhouette. Since windmills developed as tower-shaped high structures to receive the wind better, they also had a strong visibility in the city’s silhouette. Even though the windmills in Izmir could not compete with their counterparts in Dutch and Belgian cities in terms of an emphatic presence in the skyline, their modest appearance in İzmir, as documented in engravings and photographs of the period, attests to an important architectural quality in the history of the image of the city that deserves to addressed in the right perceptual context. While the mills in Değirmendağı and Halkapınar determined the northern and southern borders of the city center in the early periods, the Gout mill, which was built on the coast in the 19th century, became one of the most important figures in the perception of the city from the sea, albeit for a short time. In addition to the effects of the mills on the perception of the city, the traces of the early reflections of the industrial revolution in the city carry them to an important point for the industrial history of the city. In this context, detection of the earliest steam engine in the Punta mill, which was built at the beginning of the 19th century, can be considered as an important point in terms of the city’s taking part in the history of the industrial revolution.

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