1 “SULEYMANIYE NEIGHBORHOOD”: CHANGE OF THE PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL FACE OF THE DISTRICT THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY Meltem Vatan Bahcesehir University, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Department of Architecture, meltemvatan@gmail.com (212) 381 55 16 Gülhan Benli Istanbul Aydın University, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Department of Architecture, benli.gulhan@gmail.com 444 1 428 ABSTRACT The Historical Peninsula which was the capital of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires, is a special territory due to the power of its geopolitical location. Süleymaniye area which was located within the Historical Peninsula had developed especially during the 16 th century under the reign of Ottoman Empire after the Süleymaniye building complex (Külliye) was built in the area, and then this area turned to be one of the most preferred as habitation area. Suleymaniye district was built in accordance with Ottoman concept of settlement and facilities which met all their social and civil needs in term of madrasah, library, imaret (public kitchen), observatory, Turkish bath and so on by centralizing Suleymaniye Mosque. Nowadays even though the area has not quite survived the original architectural pattern, a general idea about the originals could be gathered through the recent pictures and drawings archives. The aim of this paper is to study and discuss Suleymaniye district by putting forth Süleymaniye’s historical, cultural and architectural core values at universal level, and the new face of the district after has been noticed as the ‘Renewal Area’. Key words: Suleymaniye (1), Renewal area (2), Re-use (3), Preservation (4), Renovation (5) 1. “SULEYMANİYE”: THE IMPORTANT RESIDENTIAL DISTRICT OF THE OTTOMAN’S Süleymaniye district is situtated on a hill which starts from Sehzade Mosque, covers all Vefa site and reaches theGolden Horn by down hills. On the west of Süleymaniye there is Atatürk bolulivard, in the south Beyazıd Mosque and in the east The Hanlar area which also includes Tahtakale (Figure 1). During the Ottoman Empire reign, Suleymaniye was the most populated residential area, starting from 19 th century a physical and social change had been observed in the area.