In some cities, street names are mere ornament. In Galata, they are often a description of a trade, a record of a boundary, or the memory of an institution. Reading the signs as you walk through the neighbourhood is like attending a free history lesson. Here is a brief glossary.
Tımarcı Street. Its name comes from the horses of Türkiye’s first horse-drawn tram line, which began operating some 150 metres away in 1871: the horses pulling the carriages were groomed and cared for here. The street’s earlier name was Cerrahpaşa.
Otçu Street. A reminder of the days when those same horses grazed here and their feed was prepared. Tımarcı and Otçu stand side by side—the backstage of a public transport system, summed up in two streets.
Yazıcı Street. The former name of today’s Serdar-ı Ekrem Avenue. In the nineteenth century, this was the address of lithographic printing houses; the street took its name from writing and print.
Serdar-ı Ekrem Avenue. Its newer name comes from a military title: commander-in-chief of the Ottoman army. Its bearer was Ömer Lütfi Lattas Pasha, commander in the Crimean War.
İlk Belediye Avenue. Türkiye’s first municipality in the modern sense—an institution called the “Altıncı Daire-i Belediye,” inspired by Paris’s sixth arrondissement—was established on this avenue. The street name is, quite literally, an institutional birth certificate.
Karanfil Street. The former name of İlk Belediye Avenue; Bağdatlıyan’s twin buildings rose on the street known by this name between 1895 and 1905.
Büyük Hendek, Küçük Hendek, Lüleci Hendek. These three names survive from the moats of the Genoese walls that once enclosed Galata. The walls were demolished, the moats filled in; the names remained.
Yanıkkapı Street. The last surviving gate of the Galata walls stands here—bearing a fourteenth-century inscription and the coats of arms of two noble families. Our brand takes its name from this stone.
Portakal Street. Its name comes not from the fruit but from people: it was home to Portuguese Jews known as “Portakal.” Galata’s cosmopolitan memory sometimes hides within the name of a fruit.
Marangoz Street. Its name has remained unchanged from the Ottoman era to the present day; 1906 maps show carpentry workshops and upholsterers along the street. The trade is gone, but the name remains.
Learning to read the names
To truly know a neighbourhood is to know the work once done there. Galata’s signs tell us of a city of horses, printers, carpenters and walls. On your next walk, pause and read—every sign is the title of a six-line story.
Sources: “Barnathan Apartments” (Çiğdem Oğuz, Nar Yatırım, 2016); Meroddi brand archive.
