Button houses

Button houses (dümeli evlerin in Turkish- image by Bluetime93 under CC) are associated with the Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey. Vernacular stone and wood frame house found primarily in the village of Sarhaclar in the Akseki district of Antalya, get their name from the the protruding pegs that resemble button points on the exterior facade. These button houses date back some 300 years to Ottoman-era rural craftsmanship.

The buildings are constructed without mortar, but are effectively dry stone walls within a timber frame, thick wooden cedar or juniper beams forming a grid-like pattern with visible wooden ends, resembling buttons on a shirt, protruding to the outside. Craftsmen stack chiselled stone, without cement or nails to form the walls and embed horizontal wooden beams between layers creating a solid heavy static structure, with certain level of flexibility, helping withstand earthquakes and harsh weather.

Once a stopover for major trade routes these houses in Akseki served as homes for wealthy merchants, farmers, and caravan travellers during the Ottoman era, built from local stone and thus sitting well with in their surroundings. After some years of neglect, but the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism began a focused restoration campaign to save them. As Turkey continues to restore and celebrate its architectural past, button houses still stand solid and elegant.

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