Kuzguncuk Gasworks, also known as Beylerbeyi Palace Gasworks,[1] is located at Kuzguncuk neighborhood of Üsküdar district on the Anatolian part of Istanbul, Turkey.
The gasworks was built in 1865 during the Ottoman Empire to meet the need of coal gas to illuminate and heat the Beylerbeyi Palace in first instance, and to supply street lighting. The construction of the gasworks on an area of 10 daa (10,000 m2) at the shore of Bosporus began in 1862. Carried out by a French company, it was completed in 1864.[2] Coal was brought by colliers. The street lighting on the Anatolian part of Istanbul became the first, and in Istanbul the second after it was introduced in Pera on the European part in 1856. With the establishment of Hasanpaşa Gasworks in Kadıköy, it was taken over by the company "Üsküdar-Kadıköy Gaz Şirket-i Tenviriyesi" ("Üsküdar-Kadıköy Gas Lighting Co.") in 1892. It gradually lost its function as its technology became obsolete, and electricity arrived in the Anatolian part for street lighting in the 1920s.[3]
The gas production stopped in 1940. Machinery and metal equipment of the gasworks were dismanteled and transported for use at the Hasanpaşa Gasworks in Kadıköy. The main and auxiliary building as well as the gas holder were declared a "first grade historical work" as part of the Beylerbeyi Palace. According to the locals, the gasworks yard was used as a mushroom farm a long period after some time of closing. It is surprising that a pig farm operated there, although pork is not consumed in Turkey. The property remained derelict, and existed as a national real estate only in documents until 1992. It was even not shown in the master plans of the municipality.[3]
