Emin Onat

He was born in Istanbul in 1908. He went to the Vefa Sultanisi School. In 1926, he entered the High School of Engineering. From the first classes, he showed a preference for fine arts and architecture lessons. In 1928, he was sent to Switzerland to be trained as a teacher of architecture. He graduated from the Zurich Technical High School in 1934 and returned to Turkey to serve as assistant professor to Pro. Debbe at the High School of Engineering.

Emin Onat inspired by the second national architectural movement.
Following a period of approximately ten years (1930-1940) during which attempts were made to keep pace with positive trends in world architecture, an reaction against the hegemony of foreign architects, which had been going on since 1927, caused a trend towards a new national architecture to begin. This return to tradition was influenced by the Fascist movement in Italy and the rise of National Socialism in Germany with their totalitarian ideas The new trend, which tended towards romanticism and aimed to create a new national architecture, influenced architecture in Turkey between 1935 and 1950. The movement, first under the name of the National Architecture, and later called the Second National Architecture, aimed at finding and using traditional features in its architectural style.

Apart from his academic career, and his principle work, the Mausoleum of Ataturk, other works of Emin Onat are as follows: Hamidiye and Mahmudiye, Kepirtepe Village Institutes (1941-1942, with Leman Tomsu), Istanbul Göztepe Villa Meral (1941), Istanbul Moda Emin Onat House (1944), Istanbul University Science and Literature Faculties (1944, S.H.Eldem), Bursa Governor’s Mansion (1945-1946), Bursa Uludağ Sanatorium (1946, Leman Tomsu), Bursa Yapı Kredi Bank (1948), alteration and repair of the Istanbul Technical University Taşkışla Building (1950, with Paul Bonatz), the Istanbul house of Emin Onat’s mother (1951), Ankara Kavaklıdere Cenap And House (1952), Open Air Cafe in Ankara’s Victory Square (1952) , Ankara Çankaya Presidential Secretariat Building (1953), Apartment Block in Mete Caddesi, Taksim, Istanbul (1955), Istanbul Industry and Development Bank (1955), Yüksel Apartment in Nişantaşı, Istanbul ( 1955), Hayat Apartment in Ankara (1956), Police Hall in Ankara (1956), Sporel Apartment in Moda, Istanbul (1956-1957), Marmara Apartment in Moda, Istanbul Moda (1956-1957), Sea Club in Moda, Istanbul (1956-1957), Office Building in Gümüşsuyu, Istanbul (Devres Han-1961).