Explanation About ‘Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye Branch of Samsun Building’ According to the Archive Documents Regarding the Missing and Wrong Knowledge

Abstract

This text is complementary of an article which was published in this, "Journal of Art History" magazine, on the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (TCMB) Samsun Branch Building, based on archival documents, has been submitted to the information of the researchers through this journal. The published article made wrong judgments and inferences by trying to associate the contradictory data with each other, since it made its analysis using secondary sources. Therefore, he could not make accurate and consistent inferences about the building he examined. It is also a wrong attitude to make hypothetical judgments without visible, and verifiable data. For this reason, it has misinformed the readers on the subject. For example, he developed hypothetical judgments about the building's construction date and architect. He tried to make sense of the building in the "1st National Architecture Movement" as the plan setup and "The Second National Architecture Movement" as the facade setup. However, the project in hand is a project between these two periods, defined as the "cubic period", designed in the "modernist period". Again, the current photographs and survey drawings of the building, which we see in the hands of the author, indicate that there is a different situation. In this regard, the author must first refer to the "institutional archive" and the "Archive of the Conservation Board" to which the building he is researching belongs to. My study, according to the information obtained by examining the TCMB archive documents; the project of the constructed building, the project author, the architects who supervised it, the date of construction and the contractor company and its cost, the meaning and importance of the building in terms of Turkish art and architecture history are explained. A national architectural project competition held for the Samsun Central Bank Branch building in 1939. Competition concluded within the defined calendar. But with the beginning of the II. World War II, the winner of the competition project had not implemented. The constructed building; was designed by Paul Bonatz in 1948. Project drawings and construction management were drawn and followed by Ahmet Sabri Oran till 1950. Ahmet Sabri Oran was a student of Paul Bonatz at Stuttgart Technical School in 1936. Then, he was a successful architect who won awards in many competitions with talent important architect partners (one of them Emin Onat). He was instrumental for Paul Bonatz; at first, taking a position in the ministry where Bonatz was a consultant and invited him to office in Ankara, then establishing a freelance office in Ankara, and finally getting a staff at Istanbul Technical University. Paul Bonatz had a long and sincere friendship-partnership with Ahmet Sabri Oran. During this partnership period, Paul Bonatz was influential in the formation and dissemination of the "II. National Architecture Movement" with the designs he made through Ahmet Sabri Oran and his other graduated students from Stuttgart in Turkey. Also, he was the chairmanship of the design competition juries in the selection committees. TCMB Samsun branch building was ordered to Ahmet Sabri Oran in 1948 on the condition that Paul Bonatz designs the building. In terms of Art and Architectural History, the project she designed for the Samsun Branch Building and the building that was put into service in 1950 is the most important example of the "2nd National Architecture Movement" in the city of Samsun.