Re-Functioning of Merzifon Anatolian (American) College Hospital as an Educational Structure

Among the missionary institutions opened in the Ottoman lands, Merzifon Anatolian (American) College in addition to the educational institution identity, as a part of the missionary with its health institutions served people of all religions and nationalities from many cities of Anatolia, as well as the townspeople. The aim of the study was to emphasize the importance of the hospital, which is one of the few buildings of the college that has survived to the present, in terms of architectural technology and design for its period and to evaluate its re-functioning as an educational structure with the restoration it has undergone in the recent past. The first part of the study focused on the process of designing and building the structure as a hospital; the second part dealt with the pre-restoration situation and the restoration process for use as an educational structure. The Anatolian (American) College Hospital, which has not yet found a place in the academic literature in the field of architecture in the Ottoman Empire healthcare buildings, is an important example for its age. Almost a hundred years after its construction as a hospital, the building was abandoned, and with the restoration it underwent, this time it was brought to the cultural heritage of the city as an educational structure. The sustainability of the cultural heritage was ensured by re-functionalizing the building which had an important place in the city's memory.