Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
METU JOURNAL OF THE FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE, cilt.42, sa.2, 2025 (AHCI, Scopus)
The economic policy framework under the Republic gave the state a central role from 1932 onward, leading to an authoritarian period in which the state became the sole employer in many sectors until the Democrat Party came to power. The so-called Early Republican period in architectural history corresponds to the single-party years in Turkey's political history. From this point of view, the RPP, the sole party in Republican Turkey, was integrated with the state, as well as dominating the parliament-government. The term party architecture refers to a type of 'public architecture' that was the dominant form in architectural production during this single party period. The aim of this study is to assess the position of party architecture in public architectural production that shaped the urban landscape of the cities at the period. The specification of party architecture from the viewpoint of public architecture stems from an effort to understand how the unity of bureaucratic and political identity, inherent to the ideological characteristics of the single-party period, influenced the architectural production of architects. Although various building types were constructed under the auspices of the Party (RPP) (Architectural/ Architectural Consultancy) Office (CHP M & uuml;& scedil;avir Mimarl & imath;k B & uuml;rosu), the production of People's Houses (Halkevleri), which can be thought of as a sort of community center in every major town or serving a district, is specifically examined because they provide a strong basis for understanding the impact of ideology on reflecting the professional identity of the architects involved. While the single party of this period functioned as a bureaucratic entity integrated with the state, the People's Houses held a distinctly political position as representations of ideological instruments of the Party. The primary goal is to focus on the organization of the Party's architectural office, its staff, workflow, and the People's Houses construction program. The second objective is to discuss the relationships between professional identity and institutional identities along the civil servant versus independent architect axis, considering the Republic's nation-state tradition. The final goal was to analyze architectural production of the Early Republican period through the criticisms of public architects rather than solely through the criticisms of free-practicing architects, as has been the case in earlier studies. Finally, Ordu People's House designed by Arif Hikmet Holtay is analyzed as a sample case to provide a detailed cross-section related to party architecture and professional practice of the period. The study is primarily grounded in an analysis of original sources from RPP documents housed in the Prime Ministry Republican Archive.