The British Post Office in the Ottoman Capital: a Transition Through a Turbulent Period

ITU A|Z • Vol 12 No 2 • July 2015 • 103-117 The British Post Office in the Ottoman capital: A transition through a turbulent period M. Kaan SAĞ [email protected] • Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey Received: January 2015 Final Acceptance: April 2015 Abstract Spurred by the Crimean War (1853-1856), Britain established a post office in Istanbul for the British army, to manage all its military correspondence. Once the war had finished, the British Army Post Office was converted into a civil- ian office. Because the old building was found to be inadequate for the increased business, the Postmaster General of the UK, George Campbell, directed that a new building should be erected. In 1859 the architect and civil engineer, Joseph Nadin designed and managed the construction of the new British Post Office in Galata. The building, which remains standing to this day, was used as the British Post Office until 1895, when it was closed, apparently for political reasons, during the Armenian riots. Afterwards it was converted, initially into a rental property, and from 1905 onwards used as the English High School for Boys. Meanwhile, the British Post Office moved into new addresses in the vicinity of the previous building and opened a new branch office in the Historical Peninsula. This article examines the historical background of the several relocations of the British Post Office in Istanbul and analyses these different office buildings in terms of their architectural designs. Keywords Late Ottoman Architecture, Victorian Architecture, Anglo-Ottoman Relations, British Post Office. 104 1. Historical background of Post had been formed on 23 Octo- From the end of the 16th century the ber 1840, the old postal system was re- correspondence between the Ottoman formed, designed to serve all Ottoman Empire and other states was mostly subjects (Tural, 2007). The Ministry carried out by foreign postal systems of Post and the first Ottoman post of- and post offices until the first quarter of fice in Istanbul began service with the the 20th century (Aslan, 2012). During name of “Postane-i Amire” in a two this period the first foreign postal ser- storied wooden building located at the vice within the Ottoman frontier was courtyard of the New Mosque in Em- run by the Venetians (Tural, 2007). By inönü (Eskin, 1942). The arrangement the 18th century, Austria and Russia of the first post offices was prepared were entitled to establish postal organ- after examining European postal or- isations in the Ottoman Empire. With- ganisations. According to the first Ot- in a short period of time, this right was toman postal regulation, enacted on 16 also claimed by other European states November 1840, post offices were to be such as France in 1812, United King- opened in the central quarters of the dom of Britain in 1832, Greece in 1834 city and to be made up of a single room and Germany in 1870 (Varlık, 1985; with shelves, cupboards and niches. Eskin, 1942). The regulation also defined that in On finding the Ottoman postal ser- this room, there must be a window or vice inadequate, western states initially a door separating the officers’ section opened post offices to serve their own from the visiting customers. At the en- embassies and consulates. Later, they trance of the building there should be began to carry the post of foreigners a sign, indicating that the building was from other countries, along with that a post office with a board showing the of their own citizens and merchants postal tariffs. Until 1863, in which the living in the Ottoman Empire. Since first Ottoman stamp was printed, ap- the Ottoman maritime transportation proximately sixty post offices were put had not reached the same standards as into service by virtue of this regulation Europe, particularly in the 19th centu- (Aslan, 2012). ry, the interest in foreign postal steam- Despite all attempts, the Ottoman ers increased among the Ottoman sub- Empire failed to restructure and reg- jects (Aslan, 2012). ulate its communication with foreign In order to compete with the foreign countries (Aslan, 2012). To be able to post offices, the Ottoman administra- compete with the foreign post offices tion established specific commissions the Ottoman administration decid- and worked to improve the Ottoman ed to use foreign specialists. After the postal service. Until the 19th century, Crimean War (1853-1856) a British correspondence within the Ottoman postal specialist, Edward James Smith, Empire was commonly maintained was retained and temporarily em- through couriers and post stations ployed by the Ottoman government called menzilhane in Turkish. These (POST 30/147A, c. 1861). Initially stations were located on the trans- Smith had been sent from the Inland portation routes at regular intervals Letter Office at London’s General Post and used by the couriers for rest, Office to Istanbul in 1854 as “Postmas- food, change of horse and other needs ter to British Forces” (POST 29/79A, (Aslan, 2012). Due to the flaws in the c. 1857). The second British specialist, courier-post station system, during the who worked for the Ottoman admin- reign of Sultan Mahmut II (1808-1839) istration, was an official called Frank the first attempt was made to create a Ives Scudamore. On 15 September modern postal organisation by build- 1876 Scudamore established the In- ing new roads and commissioning ternational Ottoman Post Office called postal carriages (Yazıcı, 1999). İttihat Postası, which for the first time However, a thorough organisation allowed the Ottoman Ministry of Post of a European-style, stable postal sys- to officially deliver international mail tem was gradually established during and fully integrate with the interna- the reign of Sultan Abdülmecit (1839- tional postal services (Yazıcı, 1999; HL 1861) (Yazıcı, 1999). After the Ministry Deb, 1880). Scudamore was dismissed ITU A|Z • Vol 12 No 2 • July 2015 • M. K. Sağ 105 in 1877 on the grounds that he was be- turning point for the British commu- having as though he was the head of nity and its construction activities in an independent foreign institution and Istanbul. The alliance between the Ot- had also created budget deficits (Aslan, toman Empire and Britain during the 2012; Tan, 1967). war reinforced the political relations In 1832 Britain commenced its post- between the two countries. The Ot- al service in the Ottoman Empire ini- toman Reform Edict of 1856, Islahat tially to provide secure correspondence Fermanı, which was proclaimed at the for its embassy (Aslan, 2012). The 1838 end of the war, brought along, among Anglo-Ottoman Commercial Treaty of many other reforms, a substantial Baltalimanı, which was a formal trade freedom in terms of the construction agreement signed between the Otto- facilities of non-Muslim subjects liv- man Empire and Britain, was a turning ing in the Ottoman Empire and it ac- point for both countries. Following this celerated the completion of the British treaty British merchants gained full ac- consular compound in Galata. After cess to all Ottoman markets and were the edict, Britain started to build more taxed the same as local merchants. In monumental buildings in the Ottoman the same year the Ottoman Empire Empire such as the Crimean Memori- signed similar trade agreements with al Church in Pera in 1858. Within the other European countries and grad- following few years the compound in ually became an open market (Çelik, Galata had taken shape. Consular ship- 1998; Issawi, 1966). As the interest of ping offices and the British Post Office the the British merchants grew in the were added as the final elements of the Ottoman market, from 1840 onwards complex (Crinson, 1996). Britain began to construct many public Although the right to establish a post buildings in the Near East. This was re- office in the Ottoman Empire was giv- lated to the rivalry between European en to Britain in 1832, until the Crime- powers, the rising European economic an War no British mail, except consular influence over the area, the liberaliza- correspondence, was delivered through tion of Ottoman laws and finally the the British postal organisation. Just af- establishment of influential British ter the beginning of the Crimean War, communities and missionary groups Britain established a post office in Is- (Crinson, 1996). tanbul for the British army to manage By the 1840’s, the number of British their troops’ correspondence (Aslan, residents in Istanbul and therefore the 2012; Yurtsever, 1983). The Illustrated number of British ships had increased London News of 19th January 1856 re- rapidly. The British built a new embas- ports in an article entitled “The British sy in 1842-1854, and in 1846 the Sea- Army Post-Office at Constantinople” men’s Hospital was established. In 1849 that the staff employed consisted of a three other buildings were begun: a post master, three assistant post mas- consulate, a consular prison and a new ters, eight clerks, who had been se- chapel in the grounds of the embassy. lected from the General Post Office in The consulate, the consular prison and London, and two natives of Istanbul, the Seamen’s Hospital together formed who acted chiefly as interpreters. Two a consular compound in Galata. Galata of the post masters and three of the was the historic town of business and clerks were employed in the post office commerce, whose role can be traced in the Crimea, assisted by two “intel- as far back as the Genoese occupation ligent non-commissioned officers”. in the twelfth century. European banks According to the article, each time the and businesses were situated downhill boat from Marseilles brought “twenty from the Galata Tower, and it was here to twentyfive bags full of letters exceed- in the late 1840’s, two miles away from ing 12000 and papers about 8000”.

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