Architect of Changing Times

Initiated by Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation İstanbul Research Institute, a series of exhibitions on architects and city planners who have left their imprint on İstanbul began with Raimondo D’Aronco and Henri Prost. This time, the series continues with Edoardo de Nari, one of the leading Italian architects active during the intriguing and colorful period of transition from the end of the Ottoman era to the first twenty-five years of the young Republic.

The exhibition, compiled from the private archives of Büke Uras, as well as different collections, not only stands testimony to the interesting life and career of an architect’s life between 1895 and 1954, but it also provides an architectural and social reading of the first half of the 20th century in İstanbul through a multifaceted individual; an İstanbul architect.

Although Edoardo De Nari may have been neglected in the history of local architecture, he nonetheless stood out in the architecture of his period in İstanbul. He was gifted in many areas and possessed qualifications that allowed him to practice his professional career in foreign lands: architect, engineer, composer, world traveler, and, finally, politician.

While revealing the real designer of a number of buildings whose architect remained unknown or ambiguous to date, the exhibition Architect of Changing Time: Edoardo De Nari also reflects, through the different styles of the architect, the aesthetic proclivities of a cosmopolitan upper class enjoying their final days in İstanbul. The memories, letters, journals, photographs, documents, and drawings comprising the exhibition not only provide us with a glimpse into the daily life and social circle of the architect, but they also mirror the sorrowful final period of a Beyoğlu bourgeoisie and a cosmopolitan İstanbul that no longer exist today.