Urban Modernization of Late Ottoman Kadıköy and the Memoirs of Hovhannes Kalfa Stepanian

Abstract

This article explores the urban modernization of late Ottoman Kadıköy through the lens of Hovhannes Kalfa Stepanian’s memoirs. A local inhabitant of Kadıköy and an active stonemason that oversaw the construction of several buildings in his district, Stepanian was an avid observer and passionate archivist of the eventful decades that shaped the urban fabric of modern Kadıköy. His memoirs contain precious visual and textual material including hand-drawn maps and neighborhood plans, property transactions, and patterns of the transformation of agricultural fields into real estate commodities. This article puts Stepanian’s hitherto untapped memoirs into historical perspective and offers a narrative of late Ottoman urban modernization that centers on the inhabitants of a semt (quarter) and the dynamics of the real estate market rather than the imperial and communal perspectives and practices. © 2024 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement.