Selahattin Ökten Soap Factory in Antakya and an Evaluation on Soap Factory Plan Typology
Müge Çiftyürek, Kasım İnceThe chemistry of primitive soaps made with herbal and animal products has been developed by many inventions and various methods. Over time, soap making has become an industrial sector. The most preferred raw material in the soap industry is olive oil. Therefore, soap production has also come to the fore in the centers where olive trees are grown. In addition, as it is understood from various documents, soap factories were built in such centers like İzmir, Urla, Ayvalık, Edremit, Burhaniye, Havran, Ayvacık, Antakya, Gaziantep, Nizip, Kilis and Birecik in the 19th century. Among these centers, Antakya has an important share in soap production. It is known from various sources that there have been lots of soap factories in Antakya. The Selahattin Ökten Soap Factory is one of those factories that survived to the present. The aims of this article are: the first is to introduce the architectural and functional features of Selahattin Ökten Soap Factory which belongs to the second half of the 19th century, and the second is to reveal a plan typology together with the soap factories identified in other soap centers. For this purpose, general evaluations of the characteristics of each typology were made and exemplified. The place of Selahattin Ökten Soap Factory in this typology has been determined. As a result, it has been explained that although soap factories have similar features, they have differences in terms of plan typology and architectural features.
Antakya’da Bulunan Selahattin Ökten Sabunhanesi ve Sabunhane Plan Tipolojisi Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme
Müge Çiftyürek, Kasım İnceBitkisel ve hayvansal ürünlerle oluşturulan ilkel sabunların kimyası pek çok buluş ve yöntemlerle geliştirilmiş ve sabunculuk bir sanayi sektörü hâline gelmiştir. Sabun endüstrisi, başlıca ham maddesinin zeytinyağı olması sebebiyle zeytin ağacının yetiştiği uygun iklim şartlarına sahip merkezlerde gelişmiştir. Bu etkinin sonucunda, çeşitli belgelerden anlaşıldığı üzere 19. yüzyılda İzmir, Urla, Ayvalık, Edremit, Burhaniye, Havran, Ayvacık, Antakya, Gaziantep, Nizip, Kilis ve Birecik gibi merkezlerde sabunhaneler inşa edilmiştir. Bahsi geçen merkezler içinde Antakya’nın sabun imalatında önemli bir payı vardır. Antakya’da çok sayıda sabunhane olduğu çeşitli kaynaklardan öğrenilmektedir. Günümüze ulaşan yapılardan biri de Selahattin Ökten Sabunhanesi’dir. Bu makalenin amacı ise 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısına tarihlendirilen sabunhanenin mimari ve işlevsel özelliklerinin tanıtılmasının yanında diğer sabun üretim merkezlerinde tespit edilen sabunhanelerle birlikte bir plan tipolojisi denemesi ortaya koymaktır. Her tipolojinin özellikleri hakkında genel bir değerlendirme yapılarak bunlara örnekler verilmiştir. Selahattin Ökten Sabunhanesi’nin bu tipoloji denemesindeki yeri belirlenmiştir. Nitekim sabunhanelerin birbirine benzeyen özellikleri olsa da genel olarak plan tipolojisi ve mimari özelliklerinin birbirinden farklılaştığına değinilmiştir.
Primitive soaps prepared with raw materials of plant and animal origin in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greek and Roman civilizations are quite different from their current form. These soap-like substances have been an important tool in cleaning various textiles and goods, in the treatment of diseases and providing personal hygiene. From the 7th and 8th centuries, soap production centers emerged in many parts of Europe and the Mediterranean countries. Marseille in France, Savona in Italy and Castile in Spain are the most important centers. Due to climatic conditions, olive trees grow in abundance in these cities. The fact that one of the main raw materials of soap is olive oil has enabled the establishment of the soap industry in these centers. In Islamic cities such as Aleppo, Nablus and Jerusalem, soap production, dating to ancient times, and turned into a major industry during the Ottoman period.
At the end of the 18th century and throughout the 19 th century, the reasons such as the discovery of chemical methods for the raw material of soap in the Western world, the introduction of steam power in the industry, the developments in transportation and the awareness of health rules increased the production and consumption of soap. In the same century, soap production is mentioned as one of the main hometown industries in the Ottoman world, and there are many documents related to soap in the Ottoman archives. In these documents, subjects such as raw materials used in soap production, quality of soap, trade and production centers are frequently mentioned. The documents mentioning the soap production centers are important in terms of identifying the regions and places where the soap factories were built. Based on the documents and yearbooks of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, these centers are İzmir, Urla, Aydın, Ayvalık, Edremit, Burhaniye, Ayvacık, Midilli, Crete, Aleppo, Damascus, Nablus, Antakya, Kilis, Antep and Maraş. In addition, in the Annuaire Oriental du Commerce (Oriental Trade Yearbooks) published in 1889-1890, 1891, 1893-1894, 1896 and 1909, it is seen that the soap sector constituted the main industry of the same centers. Considering this information, soap factories were identified in Ayvalık, Burhaniye, Havran, Edremit and Ayvacık in the Marmara, in İzmir and Urla in the Aegean, and in Antakya, Kilis, Antep, Nizip, Birecik in the Mediterranean. The climatic conditions of the settlements enabled olive trees to grow. Therefore, soap factories were built in these centers where olive oil was obtained abundantly and cheaply.
Among the centers mentioned, it is learned from the documents that the main industry of Antakya in the 19th century was the soap production sector. The number of soap factories in the city was nine in 1888-1889, eleven in 1892-1902 and fifteen in 1906. Today, there are seven soap factories in Antakya. However, the architectural formation of the soap factories identified in Antakya and other centers has some similarities and differences. The plan, space, façade and building material properties of these structures have developed in parallel with the architecture seen in their geography. In this context, the Selahattin Ökten Soap Factory in Antakya was introduced as singular in terms of the plan, space functions, façade features and building materials. A typology study was carried out with the soap factories found in other regions. Three different main typologies have been determined in these soap factories, whose construction dates are from the second half of the 19th century to the 1960s. 1- Soap factories with different units in a courtyard 2- Soap factories with inner courtyards 3- Soap factories without courtyards. Soap factories of the 1st type appear in Ayvalık, Burhaniye, Havran, Edremit, Ayvacık and İzmir. Generally, two-storey and rectangular-mass soap factories of this type delimit one side of the large courtyard. The courtyard is shared by buildings with different functions, especially the olive oil mill, together with the soap factory. They also have metal conical-shaped boilers. Type 2 is located in Antakya, Kilis, Gaziantep, Nizip and Birecik. This type of plan consists of vaulted and arched sections that surround a courtyard from two, three or four directions. There are usually stone soap cauldrons and olive oil wells on the ground floors. The wooden curtains seen on the facades of the first floors facing the courtyard and the street add a characteristic feature to these soap factories. The third type is encountered in every region. However, the building elements and facades are shaped according to the architecture of the region they are located in. Functionality is prioritized in soap factories. Therefore, aesthetic concerns are at the lowest level. Interior spaces and facades are kept quite plain.
