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The row of
houses opposite the railway station as seen today, one of which is likely
to be the Grace Williamson run maternity home of 1914-1922+? and possibly
later (the same building?) the ‘Miss Perkins pension’ (1930~1950?) in Smyrna/Izmir.
The nearest fully seen building in this shot has in time proved to be the one as a death certificate of an individual who died at this place read ‘640 Birindji Cordon’ equating to today’s 446 Ataturk Caddesi.
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According to the contributor Andrew Simes, the building on the right was the formerly belonged to Rudolph Cassano, who married a Bertha Russo (who was born in the Russo house of Buca). It was the Cassano residence between the years of 1953 and 1997. The Cassano’s bought this house in 1953 from a Karaosmanoğlu family who told them the house was built by the British - click for map for possible clues:
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The former Grace Williamson Nursing Home.
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The building above currently functions as the Railway museum and art gallery, and
in the web
site for this institution, there is some information concerning the
history of this building. It was built by the local English merchants as
a goods warehouse in the early 19th century (before the 1856 commencement
of the Aidin railway line) and carries architectural features termed ‘Baghdadi’,
prevalent in many English building of the city, such as the nearby Anglican
church and parsonage (currently used as the consulate). The building was
used from the 1860s onwards as the residence of the manager of the Aidin
railway company, and post-nationalization of this company, together with
the neighbouring 5 houses, all with similar architectural features, was
used for general residential purposes, before becoming the museum and gallery
in 1990.
According to the contributor Alfred Simes, this building used to be house of Joseph Walker - view other Walker residences. For some reason this house has an escape tunnel and recently 30 truck fulls of soil and rubbish that accumulated in the ‘tunnel’ over the years were carried away, and still, the tunnel kept going (towards the present British consulate).
According to the contributor Alfred Simes, this building used to be house of Joseph Walker - view other Walker residences. For some reason this house has an escape tunnel and recently 30 truck fulls of soil and rubbish that accumulated in the ‘tunnel’ over the years were carried away, and still, the tunnel kept going (towards the present British consulate).
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