A project led by Ondokuz Mayıs University (OMU) aims to document and preserve the architectural heritage of traditional houses in Samsun’s Atakum district, ensuring their transmission to future generations.

Titled “A Field Study on the Identification of Traditional Residential Architecture: Traditional Houses of Büyükoyumca Neighborhood in Samsun’s Atakum,” the project will inventory and document the traditional houses in Büyükoyumca and across the district. This effort is intended to safeguard this architectural and cultural legacy for posterity.

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye (TÜBİTAK) has deemed the project worthy of support.

The research, which sheds light on the historical and cultural past of Atakum and its Büyükoyumca neighborhood, is being conducted by İlayda Kantar, an undergraduate student in OMU’s Department of Art History, under the supervision of Dr. Alper Atıcı, a faculty member in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Art History.

"We Identified Nine Houses with Traditional Architectural Features"

Project advisor Dr. Alper Atıcı told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the research involves drawing architectural plans, sketching layouts, and photographing old structures.

Highlighting the team’s efforts to create a detailed inventory of houses with traditional characteristics, Dr. Atıcı stated:

"We identified a total of nine houses that exhibit traditional architectural features. Among them, there are both interior and exterior sofa-style layouts."

"Büyükoyumca Neighborhood Dates Back to the 17th Century"

Providing historical context for the neighborhood, Dr. Atıcı explained:

"The history of Büyükoyumca dates back to the 17th century. When the city of Samsun expanded westward in the 1970s, the neighborhoods of Atakent, Atakum, and Kurupelit emerged. These neighborhoods mainly developed along both sides of the Sinop-Samsun highway. Büyükoyumca, however, is located in a rural area, where the houses reflect the typical rural architectural style of the Central Black Sea region. Traditional houses in this area feature central sofas (halls) surrounded by rooms, bay windows (cumbas), and wooden extensions."

Project Lead İlayda Kantar: "The Field Study Took Nine Months"

Project lead İlayda Kantar noted that the research spanned 12 months, with the field study phase lasting nine months.

"During the field study, we drew the floor plans of the houses and documented them through photography. We also conducted oral history interviews with local residents, including homeowners, and determined that most houses date back to the 20th century. Additionally, one of the houses features a master inscription, which significantly helped us with dating the structures."

"Tobacco Storage Pits Found in the Ground Floors of Houses in This Tobacco-Farming Region"

Describing the typical architectural characteristics of traditional houses in the region, Kantar stated:

"The houses are generally two-story structures built on a stone-based ground floor. The ground floors primarily consist of stone materials, while the upper floors are constructed using wood. The ground floors were typically used as barns, chicken coops, or tobacco storage. Since the region was known for intensive tobacco farming, the presence of tobacco storage pits on the ground floors is a common feature. The upper floors, on the other hand, served as living spaces and were designed with both interior and exterior sofa-style layouts. The houses were covered with hipped roofs. Interestingly, some houses lack ceilings—a design choice to facilitate tobacco drying indoors, which was a widespread practice in the region."