Photographing Istanbul’s Charming Painted Signs

Walking through an inner Istanbul neighborhood like Cihangir or Kurtuluş, a passer-by might not immediately pay attention to the hand painted signs on the entries to older apartment buildings. Look closely at the glass panels above the doors, however, and you’ll find a delightful variety of designs, often painted with some love and skill, that also provide a snapshot into the city’s recent history.

Now, these signs are the subject of a book by photographer and researcher C.M. Kösemen. The Disappearing City: Hand-Painted Apartment Signs and Architectural Details from 20th-Century Istanbul catalogs not just the signs themselves, but the often elegant 20century vernacular architecture of which they formed a part. It’s an architecture, Kösemen notes, that, along with the signs themselves, is increasingly under threat as Istanbul redevelops and sweeps away the old.