European Perspectives on the Ottoman House

Abstract

This paper traces some European receptions of the typology of housing generally referred to as Ottoman or Turkish. It discusses the regional developments in the Balkans, with a focus on Albania, and particularly the examples of Gjirokastra. But it also makes the connection to the Swedish reception of the pavilions, or kiosks, of the Ottoman sultans of early 18th century. The Swedish king Charles XII, who in the years around 1710 was staying in today’s Moldavia basically as a guest of the sultan, sent an expedition to Istanbul. The officer/architect Cornelius Loos documented some important architectural structures, not least the sultan’s kiosks. Apparently the ideal of comfortable, informal living represented an idea that was meant to reform Swedish royal culture, indirectly making a connection also to representative housing in the Balkans. The ideal became a component in early modern housing development, and this paper finally suggests some successions into 20th century modernity.