The story of this structure, popularly known as the “Walking Mansion,” usually revolves around four figures: Mustafa Kemal (founder of the Republic of Turkey), the gardener, the mansion, and an Oriental Plane Tree (plantanus orientalis). When Mustafa Kemal goes to his farm in Yalova for a short vacation, he finds the gardener responsible for the maintenance of the grounds trying to cut down the large branches of the plane tree because it is leaning on the wall of the mansion. Mustafa Kemal is not satisfied with the answer when he asks for the reason so, instead of cutting the branches of the tree, he orders the mansion to be moved. Although the story is briefly told like this, there are other heroes who made the move, which began on August 8 and ended on August 10 of 1930, possible: Istanbul Municipality Public Works Department, Branch of Roads and Bridges.1
Chief Engineer Ali Galip Alnar, to whom the task was entrusted by order of Mustafa Kemal, arrives at the Yalova district with his technical staff. The mansion, which was dismantled to its foundation thanks to the technical knowledge and skill of the team, is brought to its current position by a very creative method for its period—by being moved on tramway rails brought from Istanbul. Thus, the plane tree, perhaps the most ancient inhabitant on that land, is saved by virtue of an environmental foresight that recognized it as the primary resident of the planet, and the skill that made it possible to accomplish this undertaking.
