Categorised as of the 'Syrian house' type by Sedat Hakkı Eldem, the traditional houses of Antakya are two-storied with rooms surrounding a courtyard on four sides. The courtyard with trees in Antakya houses were intended to creating cool areas within these houses. Before the Ottoman conquest, Syria was ruled by the Muslim Arabs for eight centuries, consequently Arabic culture prevailed here. During this long period of time, ancient construction techniques were employed and the influence of Ottoman house architecture appeared only during the 18th c.. The most typical examples of the implementation of Ottoman influence are to be observed in Mardin, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Gaziantep, Aleppo, Antakya and Damascus. Yet, the decorative programme originating from Istanbul became popular from the early 18th c., and it spread across Ottoman territory. These decorations first appeared in decorated woodwork in Aleppo and Damascus.The decorative programme of houses in Antakya are worth noting, providing as they do, the 19th c. provincial implementations of the same repertory that had earlier appeared in 17th c. Istanbul and which had reached its apogee in the Fruit Room of Sultan Ahmed III (1705) in the Topkapi Palace. One or two rooms of these Antakya houses were lavishly decorated, in order to reflect the wealth of the owner. All the houses covered within our study are in 'Old Antakya' and are known today by the name of the family or the person who built the house or had who bought it. When these houses are explored, it becomes clear that all have the same decorative programme. On the wood-panelling from the floor to the ceiling there are oil-painted flower arrangements in vases, fruit bowls, motifs with flowers and ivy scattered around and the choice of vivid colours in these decorative schemes, such as yellow, green and red, are all alike. Although these decorations seem to have been rendered voluminous and were painted by masters, especially in one particular house, the cactus depiction, the landscape-like compositions with poplars or willows and the depictions including ships are so simple that it is possible to claim that these subjects were painted by amateurs or that the master/artist was far more comfortable with the traditional motifs but was much more hesitant with new compositions. As a result, the flowers rising from a vase and the fruit bowls are the more common and popular elements of the decorative programmes from the 17th c. onwards. It is known that from the second half of the 18th c., traditional kalemişi decoration changed and this new type of wall paintings appeared, resulting in paintings in the western manner, a manner which was experimented with across the Sultanate.The love for flowers was so intense that it gave its name to this period and this is also attested from the large number of flower depictions contained within the decorative programme of the period. In the 18th c., palaces, houses, fountains, writing boxes and carriages were all decorated with flowers and gazels were composed about them. The decoration of Sultan Ahmet Ill's Fruit Room in the Topkapi Palace, which was richly decorated, the decoration leaving no vacant space, is the most developed example of these motifs and it played an important role in the spreading of this repertory of decoration across Ottoman territory. As tile panels or as painted decoration on wood-panelling, this repertory spread from the palaces to the houses and continued in conformity with the decorative programme that had been established at the centre.This decorative programme developed during the reign of Sultan Ahmed III and is quite parallel to those paintqd in Damascus and Aleppo that were amongst the most important centres of the Ottoman provinces. The origins of this interaction must be sought in the relations between the capital and the provinces. Positioned upon the pilgrimage route to Mekka and Medina, like Damascus, Antakya gained in importance in the 19th c. and the wealthy dignitaries of the town wished to decorate their own houses like those in Damascus; thus, it is plausible that they hired masters from Damascus and these masters employed this same decorative programme. When one considers that the Damascus masters learned the new decoration in the early 18th c., it is not surprising that this new repertory is first attested to in Damascus and Aleppo after the capital Istanbul and is then found in Antakya from the second quarter of the 19th c. due to these masters.The Ottoman artist created images of Paradise by bringing together various elements and symbols of Paradise and by using the various images of Paradise that are described in the Holy Qur'an; however, flowers are not mentioned in the narratives on Paradise provided in the Qur'an but the Ottoman artist depicted Paradise as gardens with flowers and created an atmosphere of peace and wealth by integrating the fruits mentioned in the Qur'an into these gardens of Paradise. Consequently, it is possible to claim that the idea of creating these small paradises particular to the owners both within the circle of the Palace as well as in kiosks, mansions and pavilions across Ottoman territory, settled in the mind.