An Industrial Heritage Case Study in Ayvalık: Ertem Olive Oil Factory

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A B S T R A C T Ayvalık is a pioneer settlement in the West Anatolia with an olive-based industry since its establishment. However, due to fast technological developments and changes in production systems, there is a large stock of derelict industrial buildings within the city center. In addition, few of them are restored under poor conditions as a result of financial profits. This situation puts Ayvalık’s olive industrial heritage which constitutes the identity of the town at critical risk of extinction. Ertem Olive Oil Factory is one of the industrial heritage buildings in Ayvalık dating back to 1910 which is a typical well preserved-medium scale 19th-century olive oil factory including both olive oil and soap productions. The aim of this paper is to discuss a conservation approach for the industrial settlement of Ayvalık by assessing the factory and its close environment through values, problems and potentials. The paper thus begins with brief history of Ayvalık and the effects of industrialization on the city. It continues with theoretical principles of adaptive re-use through contemporary literature and general evaluation of adaptive re-use examples in Ayvalık according to these principles. The third part focuses on the general characteristics of Ertem Olive Oil Factory and its close environment. The final part discusses the conservation approach for the adaptive re-use through values, problems and potentials of the building and Ayvalık.

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An Industrial Heritage Case Study in Ayvalık: Ertem Olive Oil Factory * Dr. GOZDE YILDIZ 1, Dr. NERIMAN SAHIN GUCHAN 2 1 & 2 Faculty of Architecture, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey Email: gozdeyildiz22@gmail.com E mail: neriman@metu.edu.tr A B S T R A C T Ayvalık is a pioneer settlement in the West Anatolia with an olive-based industry since its establishment. However, due to fast technological developments and changes in production systems, there is a large stock of derelict industrial buildings within the city center. In addition, few of them are restored under poor conditions as a result of financial profits. This situation puts Ayvalık’s olive industrial heritage which constitutes the identity of the town at critical risk of extinction. Ertem Olive Oil Factory is one of the industrial heritage buildings in Ayvalık dating back to 1910 which is a typical well preserved-medium scale 19th-century olive oil factory including both olive oil and soap productions. The aim of this paper is to discuss a conservation approach for the industrial settlement of Ayvalık by assessing the factory and its close environment through values, problems and potentials. The paper thus begins with brief history of Ayvalık and the effects of industrialization on the city. It continues with theoretical principles of adaptive re-use through contemporary literature and general evaluation of adaptive re-use examples in Ayvalık according to these principles. The third part focuses on the general characteristics of Ertem Olive Oil Factory and its close environment. The final part discusses the conservation approach for the adaptive re-use through values, problems and potentials of the building and Ayvalık. CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2018), 2(3), 20-30. https://doi.org/10.25034/ijcua.2018.4715 www.ijcua.com Copyright © 2018 Contemporary Urban Affairs. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Industrial heritage places, landscapes, buildings and/or complexes are characterized by a pragmatic value-driven approach due to their construction purposes. They have often been both the reflection of transformation and modernization as a result of the industrial revolution. Industrial buildings usually lost their functions due to the fast technological developments and changes in production systems (Cengizkan, 2006: 9). "Industrial landscape of Ayvalık" defined by a specific geography, in the Western edge of the Anatolia is accepted on the tentative list of UNESCO in April, 2017 as an outstanding example of social and economic structure of 19th-century industry based on olive-oil production in Western Anatolia (UNESCO, 2017). This paper focusing on a case study selected from Ayvalık aims to discuss a conservation approach by assessing it and its close environment through values, problems and potentials. In this regard, the first part of this paper comprises a summary of the history and characteristics of Ayvalık as an industrial heritage. The second part contains the comprehensive review of the adaptive re-use principles and interpretation of Ayvalık industrial landscape through adaptive re-use examples. The third part describes the case study -Ertem Olive Oil Factory- and its assessment as an industrial heritage. And the last part provides a conservation approach for the adaptive re-use of the selected case study. 1.1. Understanding the History & Characteristics of Ayvalık as an Industrial Heritage Ayvalık is a seaside town on the northern Aegean cost of Anatolia which is a province of Balıkesir. The geographical settings of Ayvalık, that is confined by the sea in the west, is surrounded by Ida Mountains and Gömeç plain; Altınova province in the south and Madra Mountain that stretches from the north-east to the south-east in an arch form in the east (See Figure 1). It is situated on a volcanic peninsula. From the west, Lesbos Island can also be seen; on the north-east, there is Gömeç; on the south, there are Dikili and Bergama. This unique geography is covered with olive groves that are a component of the natural character of Ayvalık constituting almost 41.3 per cent of the region which is the main source of the industrial landscape of Ayvalık. There are more than two millions olive trees which originate from the wild olive (olea olester) that existed as local species among other species and were domesticated and converted genetically endemic species (UNESCO, 2017, para. 4). Figure 1: Location of Ayvalık (Google Earth, last accessed on September 12, 2016) and its close environment (source: http://www.thefullwiki.org/Ayvalik#Notes, last accessed on August 24, 2016) According to the written sources, there have been settlements in Ayvalık region since the antiquity. However, there are no clearly-defined information about Ayvalık related with the foundation of the settlement because of the uncertain sources. It was known as Kydonia, capital of Eolia in ancient Greek (Yorulmaz, 2000: 34-38; Psarros, 2004; Şahin Güçhan, 2008). Ayvalık has developed in the region where Christians and Muslims lived together since 1580 and the rapid growth of the settlement started after the 18th century with the increase of olive and olive oil productions (Psarros, 2004; UNESCO, 2017). The late 18th and the beginning of 19th-century was the period of Ayvalık's development of international trade with the help of İzmir as a metropolis. Ayvalık became one of the important port cities which consists of Rum population. The main activities related with the trade was olive oil and its products such as soap and olive pomace -pirina- in addition to flour. By the help of these developments, the population flourished rapidly. Moreover, in 1803 an important academy that makes Ayvalık an educational center in the Greek world was founded. In the 19th-century, the north of İzmir region including Ayvalık was defined as 'olive region'. In that period, due to the weakness of the Empire, Anatolia became an open market for the colonialist powers and Ayvalık was one of the important gates for penetrating to the economy. Thus, it drew the attention of foreign investors such as English R. Hadkinson who was a pioneering entrepreneur of olive-oil trade during the industrialization period by introducing the machines instead of the primitive tools in Ayvalık and İzmir. It is estimated that in 1884, he constituted an olive oil factory in Ayvalık. And it was developed in time at the sea shore within the city center (Bayraktar, 1998: 16-17, 23). In the 101st issue of Servet-i Fünun, for identifying the socio-economic situation of Ayvalık in 1894, it is written that there were 11 districts (mahalle), 1 mosque, 12 churches, 6 monasteries, 26 soap plants, 78 olive oil plants, 40 tanneries, 25 wind-mills, 2 hotels, 2 restaurants, 7 olive-oil and flour factories, 45 furnaces. Moreover, in 104th issue of it, it is mentioned that there were 9 quarries in Sarımsaklı (which gives the name to the stone that used in the buildings in the region 'sarımsak stone'), 14 tile and brick kiln and 7 pitcher kiln.

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