The disappearing city

C.M. Kösemen

This book is a collection of hand-painted apartment-name signs and details of vernacular architecture from historical districts of Istanbul. Istanbul is rare among the world's cities for having apartment buildings named after animals, plants, even feelings. From the early 1900s to the 1970s, these names were painted on apartment entrances as elegant, idiosyncratic signs. New printing techniques, urban renewal efforts and gentrification all threaten these elegant, unacknowledged works of art. Details of historic structures, vernacular architecture and associated elements are all shared alongside an archival collection of hand-painted signs. Extensive information about the art and trade of sign painters; and the lives of individual artists is also provided