Mattheys Mansion

Mattheys Mansion (Mates Mansion, Steinbuchel House, Wood-Paterson House, Arkas Art Bornova), a historic building located in the district of Bornova in İzmir.

In 2023 it was opened as an art and experience center within Arkas Art to exhibit a collection of hand-woven carpets.

The building in English architectural style is famous for its arched entrance door and is surrounded by purple-clustered lilac flowers. During the War of Independence, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was a guest in this mansion for a short time.

History

It is estimated to have been built in 1780. Some sources state the construction date as 1860. According to architect Seda Özen Bilgili, who carried out the restoration of the building in 2018-2023, the mansion, which grew with additions in various periods, may have the perception that it was built in the mid‑1800s because it underwent a major transformation at that time.

The mansion was long called "Wood-Paterson House". Initially it was a simple square‑shaped structure. After being purchased from the Paterson family by the Englishman John Maltas and rebuilt as a summer mansion, it was inherited in 1840 by his daughter Eugenie Wood. After Eugenie Wood, who was married to Charles Wood, chief physician of the English Hospital in İzmir, and mother of seven children, died, the mansion passed to her eldest daughter Lucy De Cramer.

Hortense Wood, a painter, poet and composer who was one of Eguenie Wood's daughters, continued to live in the mansion with her nephew Fernand de Cramer until her death in 1924. Hortense Wood had piano lessons from the famous Hungarian composer Franz Liszt, and Liszt had played the piano in the mansion's room called the Cairo Room. Hortense Wood hosted many famous people at her home and took photographs of the guests. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, whom she admired and to whom she sent support letters during the National Struggle, was among the guests she hosted at home. After the liberation of İzmir from enemy occupation, Mustafa Kemal came to the mansion and met the 78‑year‑old Hortense Wood. On 16 September 1922, accompanied by Fevzi, İsmet, Asım Pashas and Halide Edip, Mustafa Kemal, who was a guest at the house, played chess with Hortense Wood's nephew Fernand De Cramer during his visit.

After Lucy de Cramer, the owners of the mansion were Renee Steinbüchel and Sonia Whitall. The mansion, known by the name of Tony Mattheys, the father of Renée Steinbüchel and Sonia Whitall, was one of the very few levante mansions that survived until the 2000s thanks to its arched entrance door and wall system built with river stones. In 2018, Arkas Holding purchased the mansion from the children of Renee Steinbüchel and Sonia Whitall and restored it. The restoration work was undertaken by architect Niko Filidis. After a five‑year restoration process, it opened to visitors in 2023 with the 16th‑19th Century Anatolian Carpets exhibition.

Mansion garden

A entrance gate, called the "prestige gate" of the Bornova mansions, was used to enter, and the mansion's garden was considered as important as the building itself. The arched entrance gate of the Mattheys Mansion was a famous door wrapped in purple wisteria vines and known for its beauty. The symbol of the mansion garden was cypress trees.

With the restoration completed in 2023, a 9‑hole mini‑golf course was created in the mansion’s garden in memory of the Bornova Golf Club, which closed in 1970, and each hole features a model produced by Bornova mansion ceramic artist Verda Sipahi and a symbol describing that mansion’s characteristic. The mini‑golf course also includes a model of Mates Mansion and, as the course symbol, its arched gate.

Arkas Art Bornova

Mattheys Mansion is used as a venue for cultural events organized by Arkas Art.

In the mansion’s visitor area there are ten exhibition rooms displaying 75 rugs from the 15th–20th centuries, a hand‑woven rug loom belonging to the Anatolian carpet weaving tradition, an exhibition room containing yarns and tools, a panel of 18 rug designs made for Oriental Carpet Manufacturers, and a presentation hall where a short documentary about Anatolian rugs is shown.