Luxurious mansions, spirited dwellers: Bahariye Coast at the Golden Horn as a suburban retreat for late-Ottoman sultanas

Throughout the 18th century, Istanbul witnessed an unprecedented sprawl towards the pleasing shores of the Bosphorus Strait and the Golden Horn, inaugurating a new suburban lifestyle. Accessible in most cases only by the water, these opulent residences configurated an urban reality which was far from the consolidated habits of the compact intramural city, both in formal and social terms. This novelty coincided with another phenomenon: the intense emancipation of Ottoman women, especially those of the upper classes. T herefore, in this period, we observe the emergence of the first royal women who established an independent life from their husbands, living in luxurious residences called by their own names. T he most significant concentration of these residences was at the Golden Horn, between the piers of Defterdar and Eyüp. Taking its name from a “spring palace” of Sultan Ahmed III (r. 1703-1730), the Bahariye Coast became a sumptuous retreat, especially for royal women. Starting from the same emperor’s daughter, Esma Sultan the Elder (1726-1788), multiple generations of Ottoman princesses have settled down on these shores, building and re-building numerous ‘sahilsaray’ (waterside palaces). This district was at the same time highly representative for the Ottoman capital, since the sultanic enthronement ceremonies took place at the nearby Eyüp Sultan Mosque. T his research aims to discover the history of the Bahariye Coast from the early-18th until the mid-19th century, and of how Ottoman princesses selected and configured it as a new, women-led suburban reality. Buildings and their dwellers will be the main focus of interest while the changing social and urban dynamics of the period will provide the framework.