The Hyphenated Architect
Armenians and Modernist Architecture in Pahlavi Iran
Abstract
In 2016, my initial question for my next book project began with a relatively simple question: Why did many of the indigenous modernist architects come from Iran’s religious minorities at the height of Reza Shah’s nationalist reign? Or rather, why did so many young professionals from Armenian, Assyrian, Baha’i, Jewish, and Zoroastrian communities choose the field of architecture as their career and shape Iran’s urban and middle-class environments? I propose that, unlike other nationalist states in the interwar period, the early Pahlavi pragmatic approach to industrialization relied on the segment of Iranian students who were educated in Western-style institutions founded and run by foreign, missionary, and minority private primary and secondary schools.
open access
Presentato: 19 Giugno 2025 | Pubblicato 16 Luglio 2026 | Lingua: en
Keywords Armenian architects • Paul Apcar • Yougenia Aftandilians • Gabriel Guevrekian • Vardan Hovhannisian
Copyright © 2026 Grigor Talinn. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/979-12-5742-061-1/004