Architectural heritages of Islam Safarli street

The National Museum of Azerbaijan Literature

Islam Safarli street starts with a view towards western facade of the Literature Museum. The story of the museum is Reminiscent of the modern history of Azerbaijan

Established in 1939, the National Museum of Azerbaijan Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi is a museum in Baku. Located near the Icheri Sheher entrance and the Fountains Square, the museum is one of Azerbaijani heritage's most significant cultural assets !!!" The building where the museum is located was built in 1850 as a onestoreyed caravanserai"!!!

The second sotrey of the building was rebuilt, and the building was handed over to the "Metropol" hotel in 1915 This building has hosted employees of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic from 1918 to the 1920s as a working and accommodation facility and, from 1920 to the 1930s, the labor union soviet of Azerbaijan.

Accessed March 22, 2022. https://science.gov.az/en/institutes/37

Fountain Square

Fountain Square

The Fountain Square is a public gathering location, especially during the weekend. It is a popular tourist attraction destionation, with many boutique shops, cafes, and hotels.[1] Starting from the Istiglaliyyat Street, this park's boundaries touch the walls of the Icheri Sheher and extend through Nizami Street, also known as the "Torgovaya Street" running parallel to Baku Boulevard This park hosts many festivals and concerts, especially in the summer.

Central City Library named after Mirza Alakbar Sabir

Located in Islam Safarli Street 13, the building's construction date is 1904. Designed by architect Van Sarkisov, the mansion's owner was Ambartsum Melikov In 1918 it became a public library by the decision of the CulturalEducational Department of the Association of Consumer Societies of Azerbaijan In 1921, on the 10th anniversary of his death, famous poet Mirza Alakbar Sabir's name was given to this library Nowadays, the building is functioning as a public library.

Migran Malikov Mansion

Located at the intersection of Islam Safarli 19 and Hazi Aslanov street, The three-story historical mansion belonged to Tigran Malikov, son of the industrialist Ambarsum Malikov. Built between 1895-1897 thanks to the project by polish architect Joseph Goslavsky in a Gothic style. This mansion was the first building built in the Gothic style in Baku and the first project designed by Goslavsky. The L shape was a perfect fit for the narrow streets of Forstadt

Section E1

Building reading/ Exterior

Geometric survey of the facades

In order to redraw the facades of the Fantasy Bathhouse, the geometrical survey was done three times. During the geometrical survey, all the possible dimensions were taken from the first and second floor facades The geometrical survey process was recorded via photos and videos. I did the geometrical survey with the help of my family members The first geometrical survey of the first floor facades was done on the 9th of April The physical tape measure was used for the conduction of dimensions. Since the building’s facades’ lengths vary between 50 and 28 5 meters, it took more than one day to take all the measurements

The geometrical survey of the facades continued next two days In 1984, a restoration project of the Fantasy Bathhouse was developed. The drawings of the restoration project were provided by the State Service for Protection, Development, and Restoration of Cultural Heritage operating under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The provided drawings are scan versions of the hand drawings and done in 1:50 scale. The restoration project of 1984 covers the first-floor plan, drawings of four facades, four sections, and façade detail drawings

Besides the geometrical survey outcomes, the 1984 drawings were taken as a reference while redrawing the facades The drawings partially provide the dimensions of the heights and widths of the facades, which were compared with the results of the geometrical survey done by me. The missing dimensions were compensated with the results of the survey

The main façade of the Fantasy Bathhouse faces Dilara Aliyeva Street The main entrance to the building is from this façade. The façade has a symmetrical configuration Six windows of the bathrooms are aligned on two sides of the entrance The windows are 2.4 meters high from the ground level and have a rectangular shape The main entrance to the building is through the portico, located in the center The semicircular corners with risalits are partially visible on two sides of the main façade.

The second floor façade is shorter and has a symmetrical configuration as well. The overall height of the building is approximately 9 meters

The second floor is has a set-back and due to the narrow street it is not seen from the ground level. That is the reason of the building to be perceived as one story structure from the street level The street’s width also prevents to take photo of the main façade in its complete length, thus the image below is done by combining 3 separate photos, and does not show perfect appearance of the main façade.

The Fantasy Bathhouse is intensely representing elements of the Neo Classicism on the façade In the late XIX centuries, by the impact of the oil boom, revival of the European Classicism was highly in demand in construction of the buildings of Baku. Belonging to the era, Fantasy Bathhouse got its share from this movement. The symmetrical design of the building being riched with engaged columns, monumental portico entry, mascarons, cornices, niches etc. gave this two-story longitudinal building to be perceived monumental enough. The finish of the first floor’s façade was enriched with the balusters, which is used to rail the roof top Portico entrance supported with column on two sides, pointed pediment decorated with medusa mascaron, triglyphs, cornice and are reminding the porticos of ancient Greek and Roman temples

Th longest façade of the Fantasy Bathhouse is facing Islam Safarli street. The facades overall length is roughly 52 meter And covering the whole quarter in the street The façade, similar to the main façade has symmetrical configuration, with respect to the Y axis. In the center of the façade niche with pediment is located. The window opening of the bathrooms are aligned on two sides of the central niche The rectangular windows are 2.4 meter high from the ground. The walls are enriched with the engaged columns, balusters are continued along the length of the first floor, same with the main façade Two short side facades with pediment, decorated with lion head mascarons are partially visible on the longest façade.

The central shell headed niche, has a stone seating with height of 45 cm The pediment of the niche is decorated with the human head mascaron, similar to the one on the pediment of the main entrance portico

Façade ornamentations

Extensively used in both exterior and interior walls by the architects of ancient Rome, Niche is a decorative recess carved within the wall in order to display a vase, font, and statue One of the finest examples of niche could be found in France, the Roman Temple of Diana at Nimes Niche was used by architects of the Italian Renaissance and the classic revival of 17th and 18th century Europe Semicircular niches are often featured, many having shelllike fluting at the apex.1

Filippo Lippi, the Renaissance painter, painted his Madonna into a drawn shell-headed niche in the 1440s 2

On the façade of the Loggetta del Sansovino Jacopo Sansovino characterized the façade with three arches between the columns of which, in four shell-headed niches are placed bronze statues of Minerva/Pallas, Apollo, Mercury, Allegory of Peace. (1537-1549)3

The façades facing the Vidadi street and Mirza Ibrahimov street are is shorter than the ones facing Islam Safarli and Dilaya Aliyeva strees. These facades are connected with one story residential building. There is not found enough information about the residential buildings built date and architect. Limestone has been used for the façade of the residential building, as Fantasy Bathhouse, Even if there is not enough information about it, since it is located in the historical streets, attached to the Fantasy Bathhouse, it could have an important history as well, but for now it is not possible to claim anything about it, and it is out of the project scope The buildings walls are directly attached to two facades of the Fantasy Bathhouse, on Vidadi and Mirza Ibrahimov streets

The Fantasy Bathhouses 3 shortest side facades have risalits with pointed pediment The façades are decorated with the lion head mascarons, which in past were pouring water through the mouth of the lions Under the lion head mascaron there is located vase with flower ornamentations There is a semicurcular window on the façade, located on top of the mascaron. These shortest facades are one of the most attractive parts of the Fantasy Bathhouse exterior. Thanks to the rich decoration of it. The walls on top of the semi-circular window are decorated with flower ornaments These side facades are connected to the other facades with the semi-circular walls The bathrooms located behind these facades are also rich with the interior decorative features and distinguish from the other bathrooms located in the building.

Mascarons of Baku

The influence of European architecture was introduced to Baku during the first oil boom in the late 19th century and the early 20th century Several movements, including Nouveau, were brought by Polish, German, and Russian architects who were mostly students of the Saint Petersburg Institute of Civil Engineering While Art Nouveau was overtaking the cities of Europe, the architects of Baku were aware of this movement and were willing to leave a heritage for the future Hence, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Baku was introduced to the mascarons

Nonetheless, mascarons are not only used in Baku’s Art Nouveau Architectures, however, they are the most breathtaking. Mascarons are also found in all achitecture styles whta has been desinged by architects of European origin from that era.

European architecture movement expansion was limited only to the Downtown area of Baku since the oil boom ended with the occupation of Baku by the communists in the 1920s. However, Downtown Baku is graced with European Architecture, thus with mascarons

Source: www.azerbaijantraveller.com

Source: www.azerbaijantraveller.com

Section E2

Building reading/ Interior

I redrew the first floor plan of the Fantasy Bathhouse with reference drawing of the building which belongs to 1984 The dimensions of the interior were put into the drawing of the restoration done in 1984. This is a hand drawing and I obtained it from the State Service for Protection, Development and Restoration of Cultural Heritage operating under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan. On April 2022, I was able to do partial geometrical survey in the building, and the result of two geometrical surveys were close to each other. The plan of 1984 was missing the doors, which was clarified in the text written next to the drawing, by missing of them It is possible that the existing doors are attached in later period, and I showed them in my drawing

First Floor Plan reading of Fantasy Bathhouse

Fantasy Bathhouse Courtyard

Residential building

The Fantasy Bathhouse’s first floor plan has L shape configuration. The buildings main façade is facing Dilara Aliyeva street, and is oriented to north-west direction The street, is connected with one story residential building on Molla Vali Vidadi and Mirza Ibrahimov streets The courtyard, whose boundaries are represented with dash lines in located between the Fantasy Bathhouse and residential structure. There is an entrance to the courtyard through the Mirza Ibrahimov street However, it is physically separated from the street by the walls of the Fantasy Bathhouse.

Bathroom cells

Tearoom

Main entrance

Courtyard entrance

The building’s first floor plan has L shape configuration In the diagram shown above, the orange colored area is representing tearoom/waiting room. The bathroom cells are shown with blue color The tearoom is the central room of the building, and opening to the courtyard of the building It is connected with the corridor, connected with the main entrance. Staircase next to the tearoom is connected with the second floor The light blue colored area between two courtyard entrances is boiler room.

Mirza Ibrahimov street

The main entrance to the building is from the Dilara Aliyeva street. The entrance is though the portico with pointed pediment There are two entrances which are to the courtyard, which are shown with orange arrows The courtyard is connected with the building in two ways One of these entrances is from a small room, on top of which is the staircase This room directs people to the tearoom. The second entrance from the to the building from this entrance is through tcourtyard to the building, is shown with blue color Originally this was the connection with the long corridor, however, due to the additional toilet room, the connection he toilet

The tearoom, which was also functioning as waiting room, is the biggest and most decorated room of Fantasy Bathhouse, The main entrance to the building is directly leading the one into the tearoom. The room has rectangular plan with axial geometry both in plan, and elevations. The room is also connected with the courtyard through a small room That entrance is shown with blue arrow, The image below is demonstrating the view which is encountering when entering the building from the main entrance The curtain wall with decorative wall of the tearoom is seen through the arched opening of the facing wall of the room

The tearoom is rich with decorative moldings on the walls and ceiling The finish of the walls are decorated with cornice along the whole perimeter of the room. The room is in rectangular shape with a semi-circular extension on one of the walls, where the decorative circular pool is attached. All four walls of the room has axial symmetrical configuration, decorated with molding ornaments The wall of the room welcoming us while entering the building through the main entrance is the one to which the decorative pool is attached Four circular columns are supporting the semicircular ceiling which is covering the pool partially

The columns have cylindric shaft, with capitals which has opulent ornamentations resembling leaves and flowers, and located on top of the semi-circular platform

According to the notes, mentioned on the drawings done in 1984, in earlier times the pool was located in the center of the room, and in the current place of it, there was a stage for live music

The curtain wall surrounding the pool, and four aligned columns, have vintage glass blocks, in orange and blue color. Currently, two blocks of the glass is missing. The semicircular part of the wall is framed with two large corbels in dragon shape, which are attached to the walls on two sides.

On two sides of the pool there are located arched windows, which are opening to the courtyard. The windows are 1 04 meter high from the floor

The wall of the tearoom facing pool has three arched openings The central opening is directing to the main entrance. The wall has axial symmetry. Flower ornaments moldings are decorating the wall Two side arched openings are covered with metal grill, which is blocking physical connection with the corridor, but the visual connection is remaining This wall has less ornamentation compared to the other three, but still sharing similar elements and completing overall appearance of the room

Two side walls, facing each other have axial symmetry, and sharing similar ornamentations, but different aspects as well The wall, which is on the left with respect to the entrance, has two door openings, one of which is connected with a small room, opening to the courtyard. The second door is opening to the corridor, of the building The second wall, has ceramic tile arts on two sides. Both of the walls have rectangular mirrow in the center, attached to the walls

The first visit to the interior of the Fantasy Bathhouse happened on 16tt of April, 2022 In total 3 visits to the building was taken place During these visits, I have made geometrical surveys, in tearoom, and some of the bathroom cells. The survey was documented with the pictures. The geometrical survey of the tearoom was done, with help of tape measurement. During the survey, I took measures of the walls of the tearoom, in detail The dimensions of the tearoom walls were noted, and I drew the walls of the tearoom with reference of the survey outcome. Due to the safety issues, entering the building was not alone, but with the family members The geometrical survey was taken with the help of them as well During the survey, we took measurements of each wall of the tearoom separately.

The rooms have two couple of walls with the same dimensions The longer walls’ length is 9.54m. The shorter wall’s length is 8.21m. The height of the room was measured with the help of the tape measurement, and wooden stick. The result of the measurement is documented as 4 64 meter

According to the measurements, the height of the pool is 51 cm, the depth of it is 56 cm The pool has the circular geometry, with the radius of 2 meter The window openings height is 2 1 meter, width 1 04 meter.

On the side wall, the there are ceramic tile arts, have rectangular geometry, in 60x100 size. Size of each tile is 20x20cm. The central mirror has the same dimension, 60x100 cm The facing side wall, has the mirror in the center with the same size, (60x100cm). The two door openings on the wall dimensions are 1.2x2.15m.

The wall facing the pool, has three arched door openings, with the dimensions as 1.36x3.2m.

All the other possible measurements of the wall details were conducted as well, and were used during the drawings

In the whole building the most damaged part is the ceiling of the tearoom. The ceiling of the tearoom is decorated with the decorative moldings Partially the ceiling is broke, the chandelier, In the floor below the broken part were the remaining the elements of the ceiling; bricks, timber decks, plaster, ornamental moldings. The reason of the ceiling damage is caused by the water cumulated on the roof of the second floor

The ceiling has timber structure On the floor there were seen brick which fell from the ceiling. I tried to figure out what is the source of the bricks, in order to understand the structure of it. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find an information about the structure of the ceiling of tearoom, from the accessible resources. I discussed the case with my Professor From Politecnico di Milano, Roberto Fedele, who gives lectures about timber structures According to his interpretation the ceiling could have Jack Arch structure.

Unlike regular arches, jack arches are not semicircular in form. Instead, they are flat in profile and are used under the same circumstances as lintels Unlike lintels, which are subject to bending stress, jack arches are composed of individual masonry elements cut or formed into a wedge shape that efficiently uses the compressive strength of the masonry in the same manner as a regular arch Like regular arches, jack arches require a mass of masonry to either side to absorb the considerable lateral thrust created by the jack arch 1

Yet this is not enough to claim structure of the tearoom’s ceiling as jack arch floor Because of the lacking information about the structure, it is not possible to suggest restoration technique for the ceiling, for now This part of the research needs more elaboration and discussion with the experst, before coming up to conclusion of any type

The ceiling damage in the tearoom occurred due to the water pooling between the ceiling and the roof of second floor In order to prevent the spread of the damage, it is necessary to replace the finish material of the roofs in the entire building. Water accumulation on the roof is visible from the image below.

According to the paper “Concept of Preserving Architectural Monuments of Baku Built at the End of 19th and Beginning of the 20th Centuries” by Z.G. Mammadova, R E Mustafayeva, “it is necessary to check the objects placed in the first floors for proper adaptation, preserve the old building grid, correct use of existing communications, temperature and humidity conditions, etc. In this regard, it is necessary to note the state of even the brightest monuments used for many years, but not subjected to a thorough restoration. This applies to Melikov’s house on I.Safarli, the “Fantasia” bathhouse and others, where, according to the results of our research, there is an urgent need to replace or reinforce structures and carry out waterproofing measures ”

Bathroom cells description

The cells are designed by interconnection of rooms, one of which was for resting and changing, and other for bathing. Mainly two rooms are connected with each other, however there are two cells in the bathhouse, which are designed with interconnection of the three rooms, which are located on two corners of the building and are designed as risalit with lion’s head mascaron, on the exterior.

The changing rooms of the cells are connected with the L shape corridor. All of the cells are decorated with colored tiles The tiles are covering the walls till the 2 09 meter height

The rest of the walls are finishing with white plaster In the bathrooms there have been bathtubs and marble massage beds, some of which are still remaining even if damaged

The cells facing Mirza Ibrahimov, and Molla Vali Vidadi streets have windows both in the changing and bathrooms.

Usually the changing rooms are lighted with skylight, while in the bathrooms there are windows. The cells have vaulted ceilings

In the Fantasy Bathhouse, there are 22 cells in general, three of which are differing from the rest. Typical cells are designed by interconnection of two rectangular rooms, which have regular wall shapes However, the cells located on the three corners of the building, decorated with lion’s head mascarons on exterior have richer interior configurations

The cells, on the corners facing intersection of Dilara Aliyeva street with Islam Safarli and Mirza Ibrahimov streets have 3 rooms. All of these rooms are lighted with windows. The room of the cells, on the corner have dynamic interior design with niches, semicircular wall, dome ceilings with natural spot light, and semicircular windows In these rooms there are marble bathtubs and massage beds The walls of the rooms are decorated with ceramic tiles of various colours and ornaments

The cell on the corner facing intersection of Islam Safarli and Molla Vali Vidadi streets has two rooms, one of which has similar interior organisation. Both rooms of the cell has windows. The window of the changing room has rentangular shape while the one on the corner is lighted through the semicircular window. The room has two niches, semi-circular carved wall, marble massage bed, and a rectangular bathtub

Decay and material mapping of the bathroom cells

Mainly in the interior of the Fantasy Bathhouse decay is caused by humidity. Due to the function of the building water usage in the building throughout the long time resulted in the crack of the plaster on the walls and ceilings of the walls, and detachments of the ceramic tiles because of humidity. This occurs in the buildings, in the walls and ceilings of the all bathroom cells, and ceiling of the corridor There is not reported any structural damage to the walls or ceiling of the bathroom as it was in the tearoom’s ceiling Since the roofs of the building is a flat roof, it is exposed to the rainwater more.

It is necessary to replace the roofing material with a waterproof material which will have a rainscreen role. Currently the drainage system of the roof is operating poorly, which could damage the structure of the building, including its foundation, if not any intervention is done urgently. Due to the fact that some of the glasses of the windows are broken, air exchange in the building, through infiltration or ventilation, also has an important effect on the indoor climate in general and humidity in particular

In some of the interior walls of the bathrooms there are rust strains, below the pipes, which can be seen on the plasters and ceramic tiles.

Skylights

Besides the windows Fantasy Bathhouse has variation of the natural skylights, which are illuminating bathroom cells and corridor of the first floor These skylights are varying in the shapes and sizes The biggest ones are two of them that are located on the corridor. These ridge skylights with dimensions 265 cm x 261 cm, and height of 150 cm. Some glasses of this skylights ae broken The rest of the skylights are approximately in the same size, with the shape of pyramid and octagon. Three of the pyramid skylights are located on the corridor The rest of the pyramid and octagon skylights are illuminating the bathroom cells. Apart from these natural lighting devices there are small spotlighs on the ceilings of the several bathrooms.