2024 – Forms of Belonging: Armenian Architects, Vernacular Style and Architectural Placemaking in the Ottoman East, by Alyson Wharton
Dr. Alyson Wharton’s book brings long-overdue attention to the contributions of Armenian architects in shaping the cities of the Ottoman East during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Focusing on six cities—Mardin, Diyarbakir, Urfa, Antep, Bitlis, and Erzurum—this richly illustrated volume challenges the widespread view of these urban centers as frozen in time or stylistically derivative of Constantinople.
Through detailed case studies, Wharton reveals how Armenian architects developed a distinctive vernacular style, shaped by their religious and intellectual networks as well as the pressures and opportunities of the Ottoman reforms (Tanzimat). The book explores how these architects balanced traditional local forms with innovations that reflected a changing empire. Their works often navigated complex intercommunal dynamics, serving both Christian and Muslim clients, and creating spaces that embodied solidarity, rivalry, or at times, became flashpoints for violence.
Drawing on architecture, urban history, and social history, the book highlights architecture’s role not just in beautifying cities, but in negotiating belonging, power, and memory—especially as these cities approached the upheavals of the late Ottoman period and beyond.
Dr. Alyson Wharton is an expert on Ottoman provincial architecture and the Armenian community’s role within it. Supported by The Barakat Trust, this book will be a valuable resource for understanding the intertwined histories of architecture, identity, and heritage in a region still marked by its layered past.
