At OMRAN TRK, we have started a new blog series to provide you, dear readers, with information about life in Yalova and the places you must visit. In the second article of our blog series, this article contains the story of the “mobile house,” its address, transportation, and visiting hours. We wish you an enjoyable reading.
Mobile home in Yalova
The carriage house is a country house built in 1929 on a millet farm in Yalova. It was used as a residence during Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's stay in Yalova. The house was built on a millet farm in 1929. The name of the place remained “The Mobile House” because the plane tree in its garden was moved to the place next to the house. Today, the house is located within the Ataturk Central Horticultural Research Institute.
The mobile house, designed by engineer Seifi Arkan, is a rectangular, two-story, semi-stone house. The mobile house garden is a large and very green area. In the garden there is a plant collection consisting of Ataturk's favourite plants. In addition, the vehicles that Ataturk used during his travels are displayed in the park. There are also paths and rest areas in the park where Ataturk walked. The plane tree in the caravan park is about 300 years old.
The story of the moving house
Ataturk set out from Istanbul to Bursa on August 21, 1929. As he passed the coast of Yalova on his yacht, he was greatly impressed by the great plane tree he saw on the shore. Ataturk, who went to the beach by boat and sat under the shade of the tree, asked to build a small house for him next to the plane tree. This two-story log house was built in 22 days and was completed on September 12, 1929.
Exactly one year later, in the summer of 1930, Ataturk came to his home in Milt Çiftliçi. On that visit he encountered a gardener trying to cut the branches of the great plane tree right next to the house. When Ataturk learned that the tree branches were leaning on the roof and walls of the house, he issued his famous order: “The branch will not be cut, the house will be moved!”
Based on this order, work began on August 8, 1930 by architectural teams and engineers from the Istanbul Road and Bridge Technical Works Branch, the perimeter of the house was excavated to the foundation level and tram tracks were placed under the foundation. First of all, the porch part of the house is moved in one day, and in the remaining two days, the process of moving the main building on the rails is completed and the building is moved to the east by 4.80 m. In this way, the house is saved from demolition and the tree branch is saved from being cut. After this event, which was the first of its kind in the field of environmental awareness, the name of the building became “The Mobile House.” Mustafa Kemal Ataturk hosted major Turkish and foreign statesmen of the period here and made important decisions that would shape Turkey's political and social history in this house. Ataturk came to the house intermittently between 1930 and 1937.
The house was counted among the cultural and natural assets required to be protected by the decision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Antiquities dated 7/12/1980, No. 12238, and it was registered. As a result of a report prepared in 2015 on the recorded plane tree that caused the construction of the house, the Oriental plane tree (Plantanus orientalis) was reported to be 390 years old and healthy.
The house, which was restored in 2006 and opened to the public, is the most popular place in Yalova today. About 50 thousand people visit the house annually. Mobile House yalova.gov.tr
Yuruyen Köşk address, transportation and visiting hours
Walking Home is located next to IDO Sea Bus Terminal. It is in a very central location. You can reach the house by walking next to İDO. In addition, in summer, depending on weather conditions, visitors are transported to the carriage house by electric carts in the form of a circular service. Adjacent to the palace there is also a picnic and entertainment area and a café/tea garden/toilets.
Address: Ismet Pasha, Center, Coastal Promenade, 77100 Yalova Center / Yalova
visiting hours:
Monday: closed
Tuesday: 10:00-17:20
Wednesday: 10:00-17:20
Thursday: 10:00-17:20
Friday: 10:00-17:20
Saturday: 10:00-17:20
Sunday: 10:00-17:20
Photos taken from Yorwin Koşak website yalova.gov.tr