Leman Cevat Tomsu (1913-1988)
Establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923 meant a revolution in the lives of millions of young girls. It meant a completely different life ahead of them compared to their mothers and grandmothers who were born during the Ottoman Era when they had no right to education.
Leman Tomsu (on the right) next to her friend Münevver Belen as a student of architecture in the 1930s in the Academy of Fine Arts
Leman Cevat Tomsu was a daughter of the revolution. She was lucky enough to be a young girl in the young Republic which gave her a right to higher education. She was one of two female students to be enrolled in the Department of Architecture in the Academy of Fine Arts and to be enrolled as the first female architect in İstanbul Chamber of Architects. Tomsu became the first female associate professor of architecture in İstanbul Technical University where she taught until her retirement in 1975.
I have had a chance to ‘know’ her when I visited an apartment building carrying a name which simply said ‘Leman Hanım’ on its name plate. There was something special about the whole apartment building. The garden was adorned with fabulous trees. The wrought-iron entrance gate was meticulously made. The whole aura of the building and garden kept me guessing that there must have been something special about the woman whose name was given to this apartment. Then I started searching for who this lady was only to discover that she was the first Turkish female architect who had bought the land and designed and built her own house where this apartment block was standing. I learnt later that she had asked her heirs to preserve the house as it was after she passed away but the first thing they did was to abolish her house in order for an apartment building to be built in its place.
A detail from my ‘personal museum’
This apartment building became my home for the last seven years. It was this home I called my personal museum full of memories of my parents and grandparents who had been the witness of İstanbul’s transformation in the last century. It is again this home I bid farewell.
Another detail from my ‘personal museum’
Dismantling a personal museum is no easy task but I owe Leman Hanım a debt of gratitude for all the comfort I found and for all the beautiful memories I collected within the walls of her garden.
The entrance door was designed by Leman Tomsu and it is now the only reminder of her house which once stood here apart from the trees she planted in the garden
Leman Cevat Tomsu deserves to be remembered as a pioneer in Turkish architecture and as the bright daughter of the young Republic. Let her rest in peace!
