Tokat Latifoğlu Mansion

TOKAT LATİFOĞLU MUSEUM HOUSE

Latifoğlu Mansion, located on Gaziosmanpaşa Boulevard in Tokat city center, is also known as Latifoğlu Mazhar and Fahri Bey House. Fahri Latifoğlu, one of the owner of the mansion, whose construction date is unknown, states that it was built in H.1160 (M.1746). The mansion, which was purchased by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 1985, was opened to visitors as a "museum house" in 1989 after its restoration and exhibition arrangements. The mansion, which was reexamined and repaired in 2007-2010, was reopened in 2010 after an exhibition arrangement.

Latifoğlu Mansion is a two-storey building with mud brick filling material between the wooden carcass and covered with a hipped roof built of Turkish style tiles. The mansion, where the rooms are placed around a sofa in an "L" shape plan, has a free-plan understanding within the Turkish residential architecture.

In Latifoğlu Mansion, traditional home culture of Tokat is reflected by being equipped with the local items and clothes. The moments of daily life; in the Hayat room, bathhouse, kitchen and bedroom and the reception of guests in the "Pasha Room" and the henna night in the harem section called the "Poolside Room" are vividly and realistically animated with mannequins. On the other hand, the upper floor hall is arranged as an exhibition area where the artifacts, reflecting Tokat ethnography and daily life are exhibited. The artifacts being exhibited on the upper floor were donated by the notable families of the city of Tokat.

Latifoğlu Mansion has rich wood, plaster and pencil work decorations. The Pasha Room with its baroque wooden ceiling core, the wavy wooden eaves, the doors and the cupboards reflect the fine examples of woodworking. The Poolside Room takes attention with its gilded ceiling, ceiling core, vases on the wall surfaces, fruit plates and pens decorated with Istanbul works. Plaster works can be seen in the paint-decorated hearths of the Pasha Room and the Poolside Room, and in the grids of the high-level windows. The motif called "Seal of Suleiman" or "Star of David" is used in stained glass plaster windows.

Latifoğlu Museum House is one of the most magnificent examples of the mansions in Anatolia with its interesting wooden and hand-drawn decorations, and both the mansion itself and the exhibition areas are open to the visitors.