Walking from Mokhber al-Dowleh Square toward Baharestan, on the north side of Jomhuri Street, just before Bagh-e Sepahsalar Street, you see a ten-story building whose height appears somewhat peculiar compared to the other surrounding structures. If you are unaware of this building's history, you inevitably find yourself asking: when and how did the municipality ever issue a construction permit for such a building?! A ten-story building with one hundred percent site coverage, on a plot of approximately seventy square meters. Yet the matter becomes even more extraordinary when you discover that this tall, slender building, with its simple and modern facade, was built in the late 1320s SH (late 1940s) — that is, a few years after the Allied withdrawal from Iran and precisely concurrent with the tumultuous period of the oil nationalization movement. The "Shah Abad Building," or as the old-timers called it, the "Dah Eshkub Building" (the Ten-Story Building), is definitively the first tower constructed in Tehran between 1328 and 1330 SH (1949-1951), and today, nearly seventy years later, a portion of the city's memories remains intertwined with it. It is said that in the 1330s SH (1950s), many people who came to Tehran would also pay a visit to Shah Abad Street to see this peculiar edifice. At that time, it was famously known that in the capital there stood a tall building so imposing that one's hat would fall off while gazing up at it. Toward the end of that same decade, a remarkable incident occurred at this building that further added to its fame: an elephant was floated atop the Ten-Story Building. A large, yellow inflatable elephant belonging to the newly established Kafsh-e Melli (National Shoe Company), an elephant that twisted and turned as the company's advertising symbol atop the tenth floor, drawing even more spectators to Shah Abad. Some longtime residents of Jomhuri Street still recount traffic accidents that were apparently caused by this building and the elephant perched upon it. Eventually, the elephant was brought down by order of the police, but the Ten-Story Building continued to attract its onlookers as the tallest structure in the capital until 1342 SH (1963). It was in that year that the Plasco Building was constructed a short distance away on the same Shah Abad Street, thereafter claiming the title of Tehran's tallest building. During its years of prosperity, the Ten-Story Building housed many important commercial companies. Some of its floors belonged to the Razi Serum Institute and Kafsh-e Melli. One floor was also allocated to KLM, the Royal Dutch Airlines, whose name gleamed on a column atop the building's roof. Setting aside the commercial companies, the personal office and studio of Gholamhossein Banan (1290-1364 SH / 1911-1985), the famous singer, was also located in this building. The seventh and eighth floors were occupied by the "Granite" engineering firm, the company of Engineer Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, who was both the designer and builder of the Ten-Story Building. Houshang Khan Shaqaqi was born in Tehran on the 19th of Aban 1299 SH (November 10, 1920) in his family home on Shah Abad. His father, Hadi Khan Shaqaqi, titled Hesn al-Dowleh (1269-1338 SH / 1890-1959), was the sixth child of Mirza Mehdi Khan Shaqaqi (1224-1299 AH), and his mother, Showkat al-Molouk Khajeh Nouri (1275-1342 SH / 1896-1963), was one of the painters of the era and a student of the Kamal al-Molk school.
His grandfather, Mirza Mehdi Khan Shaqaqi, titled Momtahen al-Dowleh, is the man whom today we recognize as the first Iranian architect. Momtahen al-Dowleh was dispatched to France in 1275 AH along with a group of students from the Dar al-Fonun (Polytechnic) by order of Naser al-Din Shah, and nine years later, in 1284 AH / 1237 SH, he received his diploma in road and bridge engineering from the Ecole Normale Superieure. After returning to Iran, during the Naseri and Mozaffari periods, he was an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while simultaneously designing numerous buildings for some of the prominent statesmen of that era, the most notable of which was the Sepahsalar Mosque and Edifice (the Parliament building) in the Dowlat neighborhood. Concurrently with the construction of the Sepahsalar Edifice, Momtahen al-Dowleh himself also became a resident of that same neighborhood. In 1258 SH / 1296 AH, he built his personal residence south of Seyf al-Molk Street (later Shah Abad and today's Jomhuri) and resided there until the end of his life. By this time, the Dowlat neighborhood had flourished. After Momtahen al-Dowleh's passing, in subsequent years his children and grandchildren were more or less residents of Shah Abad. The house of Hesn al-Dowleh was also on the second western alley off Bagh-e Sepahsalar Street, an alley that was called "Shaqaqi Dead End" until approximately the 1340s SH (1960s). Houshang Khan Shaqaqi completed his primary education at the Sirus School in the Shah Abad neighborhood. In 1311 SH (1932), he went to the Dar al-Fonun to continue his studies. In 1317 SH (1938), after completing his secondary education, he entered the Technical Faculty of the University of Tehran, and five years later, in 1322 SH (1943), he graduated with a degree in road and building engineering. The Technical Faculty, which had been established in 1313 SH (1934), was one of the six original faculties of the University of Tehran, and when Khan Shaqaqi began his studies there, four years had passed since its first cohort. From 1319 SH (1940) onward, the "School of Architecture," which had previously been housed in the Marvi Scientific School, was transferred to the basement of the Technical Faculty. From this point, it can be said that during those years, the two disciplines of "road and building engineering" and "architecture" were, at least in the educational realm, next-door neighbors. Moreover, during the 1320s SH (1940s), the connection between these two disciplines was evident in many other fields as well. A glance at the subjects and content of articles in Architect magazine provides some evidence of this claim. Architect, of which six issues were published between 1325 and 1327 SH (1946-1948) under the editorship of Iraj Moshiri, was the first specialized Farsi-language periodical in the fields of architecture and urbanism. However, the magazine's editors in those days, in addition to news and material related to architecture, did not shy away from publishing articles about building structures, material strength, and the like. In most issues of the magazine, it is also clear that the authors insist on addressing their audience as "engineers and architects." Such signs indicate that during that period, despite the educational separation of the two disciplines of "road and building engineering" and "architecture," no clear boundary yet divided these two domains — particularly as building technology and construction methods were also rapidly changing, and the execution of new designs required the use of novel materials and new capabilities.
Among these matters, one of the subjects that captured the minds of "engineers and architects" from the very beginning was the nature of high-rise buildings and how to construct them. On this topic, an article was published in the very first issue of Architect magazine in 1325 SH (1946), written by Engineer Malek Iraj Ghaffari and titled: "How Is a Skyscraper Created?" The original article was drawn from foreign journals, and the author, while referring to New York's population growth, addressed the necessity of constructing "tall buildings": "Due to the increase in population, the city's area has greatly expanded, and [...] furthermore, in certain areas that were commercial and industrial centers, land prices had risen considerably [...] therefore, these factors combined, and as a result, the idea arose to make building heights exceed those of European buildings. Gradually, heights increased until today, the legendary buildings known as skyscrapers are prominent in New York." Continuing the article, Ghaffari proceeds to describe the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel as an example of New York's skyscrapers and notes points such as lighting conditions and water supply methods in skyscrapers; he observes that such buildings "require alternating heating and cooling"; he discusses the steel framework of the building and how it is erected with powerful cranes; and finally, he emphasizes the necessity of installing elevators in such edifices. The contents of Architect magazine, though in most cases very concise and brief,
reveal a vista of the architectural transformations of Iran in the 1320s SH (1940s) — transformations linked to the socio-political atmosphere of post-World War II Iran. In those years, the authoritarian modernization that had previously cast its shadow over Iranian architecture and urbanism was no longer in evidence, and "engineers and architects," rather than contemplating the construction of grand governmental buildings, envisioned a social mission for themselves. Hence, one of the most important discussions occupying the minds of this group of elites was the problem of Tehran's population growth in the 1320s SH (1940s) and the necessity of "providing inexpensive collective housing." This was an issue that several writers for Architect magazine, including Mohammad Ali Sheibani, Abbas Azhdari, Iraj Moshiri, and Manouchehr Khorsand, addressed. In the same vein, some architects, such as Nureddin Kianuri (1294-1378 SH / 1915-1999) and Vartan Hovanessian (1274-1361 SH / 1895-1982), had, based on their political inclinations, cast a glance toward mass housing models in the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the magazine's writers did not share a single orientation, most of them, in discussing the development of residential spaces, more or less paid attention to the vertical development of the city. Therefore, in the magazine's final issue in Tir 1327 SH (July 1948), Iraj Moshiri promises to devote the next issue specifically to this topic: "Most old cities and some of today's cities expand horizontally [...] but today most cities expand vertically, and the number of stories in
The Ten-Story Building with the Plasco Building visible in the background, photographer Javad Tahami, circa 1345 SH (1966).
View of Shah Abad and the Sepahsalar Mosque from atop the Ten-Story Building, photographer Mahmoud Pakzad, 1335 SH (1956). View, photographer Mahmoud Pakzad, 1330s SH (1950s). Portrait of Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, oil painting by Mrs. Showkat al-Molouk Shaqaqi, 1337 SH (1958).
Inflating the elephant on the building's rooftop, late 1330s SH (late 1950s).
their buildings progressively increases. In the view of urban planners, this type of city is more suitable than cities that expand horizontally in terms of urban management, sanitation, traffic, oversight, and security. In the next issue, we will discuss in detail the advantages and disadvantages of these two types of development and their applicability to the particular conditions of Tehran's expansion." The next issue of Architect magazine was never published; yet from Moshiri's brief references in the final issue, one can discern that high-rise construction was a concern of some architects and engineers in the final years of the 1320s SH (late 1940s) — an idea that Houshang Khan Shaqaqi ultimately realized during those same years by constructing the Ten-Story Building. Years later, in a conversation with Soheila Beski (1332-1394 SH / 1953-2015), Khan Shaqaqi spoke about his motivation for building such a structure: "I always wanted to do things that had never been done before; that is why I thought of tall buildings. Tehran was gradually growing, and I thought that tall buildings would soon become common. Someone had to have the courage to start, and I had it." He also stated elsewhere: "Whenever I entered Shush Square, I always felt that a group of about two to three hundred people were entering the square [...] Tehran's population was increasing, and I thought these people who come to Tehran need a place to stay [...] the surface of Tehran had no room for expansion [...] I thought if we could build several stories to accommodate them, it would be better — and from there, the idea of building the first tall building took shape." Such statements show that Khan Shaqaqi, in building Tehran's first high-rise, had in mind factors such as population growth and urban expansion — the very factors that the writers of Architect magazine were also pointing to in those years. Around 1325-1326 SH (1946-1947), Houshang Khan Shaqaqi traveled to Paris and spent two years furthering his knowledge in the field of building construction. It was during this trip that a small hotel caught his attention. This hotel, which had no more than four rooms per floor, became his initial model for designing the Shah Abad Building. Therefore, upon his return to Iran, he selected a small plot of land fronting Shah Abad Street and set about designing the building. This plot, with an approximate area of seventy square meters and comprising three shops, had previously belonged to Momtahen al-Dowleh and, after his passing, had come into the possession of his daughter, Mrs. Mohtaram Shaqaqi (1279-1352 SH / 1900-1973). Khan Shaqaqi purchased the land from Momtahen al-Dowleh's daughter for forty-seven thousand tomans, and in partnership with a European resident of Tehran, commenced construction of the building in 1328 SH (1949). He initially wanted to build a modern cafe-restaurant on the ground floor, and he designated the rooftop terrace, which overlooked the city, as a summer cafe. Furthermore, since he had a hotel function in mind, in his original design he provided a washroom for each room and a toilet on each floor. He also designated the fourth floor for a bathhouse. Today, installing such facilities in a high-rise building is not a particularly complex matter, but it is clear that in those years, solving such problems — and on an irregularly shaped plot of seventy square meters at that — required ingenuity and innovation. In this regard, one of the first challenges was water supply. We know that Tehran did not have piped water until 1334 SH (1955), and to supply water to houses, surface water or qanat water had to be directed to the house's reservoir. To solve this problem, Khan Shaqaqi was compelled to build a cistern beneath the Ten-Story Building, supplied with water from the Mokhber al-Dowleh intersection. The water stored in this cistern, after purification, was pumped to a tank on the rooftop, from where
it flowed through the building's pipe network. Another issue was the limitation of electrical supply. This problem was solved in a peculiar manner: the electricity department made the provision of a power connection contingent upon a glass-enclosed room on the building's topmost floor being made available to electricity workers for surveillance. Thus, for years afterward, electricity officials would come to the building and monitor the city's lights throughout the night. This was done so that in the event of a power outage in any of Tehran's neighborhoods, the officials could notify the department by a dedicated telephone. Setting aside such matters, the story of the building's construction itself was another tale entirely. Houshang Khan Shaqaqi described some of these difficulties in his conversation with Soheila Beski. In a documentary film also produced in the 1370s SH (1990s), directed by Iraj Karimi and based on a concept by Alireza Raeisian, Khan Shaqaqi, while recalling past memories, spoke about the construction process and some of its difficulties. From the sum of these accounts, it emerges that some of his problems were related to excavation, since at that time many of the buildings on Shah Abad were made of mud brick, and the risk of their collapse was high. Some difficulties also stemmed from the shortage of tools. For instance, regarding the connection of certain metal components, he says that at that time no welding equipment was available to him: "Outside the city, in a blacksmith's shop, there was a welding machine left over from the war, which we used, and then [brought the parts] to the construction site." Khan Shaqaqi also makes interesting points about the transportation and moving of materials. According to him, at that time, some building materials were still brought to the construction site by horse-drawn carts. Additionally, regarding building components, he said that they hoisted them up in the old-fashioned way, using tall ladders, ropes, and pulleys. But apart from the construction's practical issues, some problems also arose from public anxieties: "When we reached the eighth and ninth floors, people from the police (not the municipality) came to investigate and halted the work. Apparently, some people had complained that 'these people just keep going higher, and any day now the building will collapse on people's heads.' I had a hundred-page calculation booklet and had computed all the details, but there was no authority to review them... At the municipality, no one understood my calculations either. There was an Armenian engineer named Bepian who had studied in Russia. He too said he did not understand [...] I explained it to him. Although he himself said he had not understood much of the calculations, at least he understood that I had calculated correctly, and in short, he allowed us to continue the building. But the uproar and abuse about my building continued. At that time [...] I went on a trip to Europe. I still have my partner's letter. In it, he had written about how people were constantly hurling insults and causing trouble — one saying it would collapse if the wind blew, another asking what would you do if there were a storm." Despite all these difficulties, after two years, in 1330 SH (1951), the construction of the Ten-Story Building was completed. At this point, since Khan Shaqaqi's European partner had withdrawn from the partnership, he too changed the building's function, converting it from a hotel into an office building. The structure of this building was entirely of reinforced concrete. In a conversation with a reporter from the Rowshangar newspaper in 1333 SH (1954), Khan Shaqaqi stated that the building's weight was eight hundred tons and its construction cost was 320 thousand tomans. But setting aside the construction aspects, it must be said that the building's architectural form and especially its role in the cityscape were also of significance. The Ten-Story Building, with its horizontal and checkered windows, displayed signs of early modernism in the arena of Mokhber al-Dowleh Square. From an interior perspective as well,
the form of the staircase, the decorative cornices around the ceilings, and the metal arabesques are reminiscent of the Art Deco style. From a typological standpoint, the building can be classified as a slender bar-type building — buildings with low site coverage relative to their height. One example of such buildings that, despite their differences from Khan Shaqaqi's work, may have inspired him, is the design for the Pravda newspaper headquarters in Leningrad (1923) by the Vesnin brothers. In both buildings, in a similar manner, we encounter devices whose application accentuates the vertical elongation of the structure. The reduction of building mass in the upper floors to create terraces, and the use of vertical elements such as flagpoles and columns on the roof, are examples of these devices. Furthermore, Khan Shaqaqi employed a particular technique in his work that, visually, makes the building appear taller than it actually is. He wrapped the horizontal lines of the window canopies and sills around the entire building on every floor, and this very gesture, through its subtle shadow-casting on the building's skin, makes the number of stories appear to exceed ten. From this perspective, examining the Ten-Story Building, we can say that its designer, through his deliberate choices, sought to create a monumental building in the city — a structure that could transcend conventional functions and emerge in its surroundings as an urban landmark. This aspect of Khan Shaqaqi's work can be clearly perceived by revisiting the photographs of that era. In most surviving photographs of the Mokhber al-Dowleh Square and Shah Abad area from the 1330s SH (1950s), the Ten-Story Building displays itself in the Tehran arena as a conspicuous urban landmark. Moreover, many photographs showing a panoramic view of the city from that period were taken from atop this very building. From this perspective, the Ten-Story Building might perhaps be compared with the Shams al-Emareh edifice — the building that, prior to the construction of the Ten-Story Building, was Tehran's tallest structure, and from whose heights the cityscape took on new meaning. Considering such aspects, the first high-rise in Tehran was undoubtedly a striking building from the very outset. However, until 1333 SH (1954) — that is, three years after the building's completion — an important part of the work remained, one that had its own complexities: the installation and operation of the elevator, a phenomenon that had not yet gained currency in Iran during those years. The history of the elevator's introduction to Iran and how it came to be used in tall buildings is not precisely known, as no thorough research has been conducted on the subject to date; however, regarding Iranians' initial acquaintance with the elevator, it can be said with certainty that from the beginning of the Naseri period, those who traveled to Europe were more or less familiar with a phenomenon called the "ascending and descending room."
View of the building from atop the pedestrian overpass at Mokhber al-Dowleh Square, photographer Keyvan Salimi, 1387 SH (2008).
Staircase of the Ten-Story Building, photographer Sohrab Mofidi, 1397 SH (2018).
Design of the Pravda newspaper building, image source: Catherine Kooce. Staircase of the Ten-Story Building, photographer Sohrab Mofidi, 1397 SH (2018).
A hundred years before Houshang Khan Shaqaqi set about building an elevator in Iran, Hossein Abdollah Sarabi, around 1235 SH / 1273 AH, had written with wonder about a factory elevator in Manchester: "And among the facilitations, one was that on the first floor they had constructed a large square box as a means of ascending and descending goods from bottom to top or vice versa. After we had observed the lower floor [...] we entered that box-like room, and in the blink of an eye I found myself on the second and third floors. And this box is for transportation, and without the factory workers having to traverse corridors and staircases, they gather inside this box-like room and ascend and descend by means of it." Such descriptions appear more or less in the travelogues of that era, but despite this initial familiarity with the elevator, no building was ever constructed in Iran through the end of the Qajar era in which an "ascending and descending room" was installed. During the first Pahlavi period, alongside developments in building construction, Iran's first elevator was installed in the four-story "Officers' Club" building north of Mashq Square. The original design of this building was by Gabriel Guevrekian (1271-1349 SH / 1892-1970), but since Guevrekian emigrated to Europe from the very beginning of the building's construction in 1316 SH (1937), the building was completed under the supervision of Vartan Hovanessian. The imported elevator of this building was manufactured in Germany, and at that time it served a ceremonial function more than a practical one. After the end of World War II, during the 1320s SH (1940s), apparently no building was constructed in Iran in which the phenomenon of the elevator was relevant. But at the end of this same decade, Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, by designing the "Ten-Story Building," first conceived the idea of using an elevator in Tehran's tallest building. Therefore, in his design he allocated a space near the staircase and
prepared it for the installation of an elevator. The building's elevator was finally installed in 1333 SH (1954), that is, three years after the building's completion. He speaks about how this elevator was built: "We had no choice but to install an elevator. We got a price from Germany that was very high [...] about 45 thousand marks [...] I thought I would build it myself [...] I went to the Technical Faculty, which had excellent books [...] I saw that building an elevator was not all that difficult. It has a few delicate aspects that need to be thought through, and there is no danger. I worked day and night for six months. At night I truly could not sleep. We also had a very good carpenter who made a cabin from Formica, just like European elevators [...] Building an elevator was not exactly simple either; of course, since it was after the World War, a quantity of surplus items could be found at scrap dealers, including various gearboxes, which I, after replacing and fabricating parts, converted into the elevator motor. After installing the guide rails, counterweight, and other safety devices — which took a great deal of thought and time — I succeeded in getting it operational. I must say that this new undertaking of building an elevator, the first of its kind in Iran, was not without danger [...] When the work was finished and not all the cables had yet been connected, I myself rode the elevator. After six months of effort and hardship, going up and down several times was truly exhilarating and gratifying." The elevator that Houshang Khan Shaqaqi had built had a capacity of four persons and operated from 1330 SH (1951) until the early 1370s SH (early 1990s), for a period of forty years. After successfully building this elevator, during the 1330s SH (1950s) he also pursued the idea of domesticating the elevator manufacturing industry in Iran by establishing a factory, but despite all his efforts he failed in this endeavor, as at that time none of the officials supported him.
From the collection of designs and drawings by Houshang Khan Shaqaqi
Sa'di Street with the Ten-Story Building visible, photographer Mahmoud Pakzad, 1336 SH (1957). View of north Tehran from the eighth-floor landing window, photographer Sohrab Mofidi, 1397 SH (2018).
From a historical perspective, it can be said that the works of Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, and in particular his successes and failures between 1328 and 1333 SH (1949-1954), to some extent reflected the contentious atmosphere of that era — a period in which, on one hand, nationalists such as Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh pursued the ideal of nationalizing the oil industry and achieving self-sufficiency, and on the other, it was famously said that figures like General Haj Ali Razmara believed that Iranians could not even manufacture a "lulhang" (a simple ewer). Such tensions spurred Houshang Khan Shaqaqi to demonstrate his capabilities as an Iranian engineer in the field of construction — an aspiration that was in harmony with his nationalistic temperament and disposition, and which he voiced on numerous occasions. My acquaintance with Engineer Houshang Khan Shaqaqi dates back to a few years before his death, to the years when illness had confined him to his home, and he lived with his wife, Mrs. Fatemeh Ghaffari, who was his sole caretaker and companion, in his personal residence in Amanieh. The design of that house, which was his own work, still remains in my mind. In those times, whenever I saw him, I was mostly interested in asking him about his grandfather, Mirza Mehdi Khan Shaqaqi. I found it fascinating that the first Iranian architect, after returning to the Naseri capital, could not find work for a long time and was even forced into manual labor for a period. Nevertheless, whenever the opportunity arose, the conversation would also extend to his own works. He would speak of his paintings and sculptures, and especially of the Ten-Story Building. Recalling those memories was sweet for him. Among the wonders of the age was also this: that the builder of Iran's first tower, from the beginning of the 1370s SH (1990s) when the fever of tower construction became epidemic, no longer looked kindly upon tall buildings. Until his final years, he still held the conviction that Tehran's dense urban fabric and narrow streets were not suitable for tower construction. Houshang Khan Shaqaqi passed away on the 7th of Mehr 1385 SH (September 29, 2006) in Tehran.
Acknowledgments I sincerely thank Mrs. Fatemeh Ghaffari (Shaqaqi), who made available for study some of the documents and drawings left behind by her husband. I also thank Engineer Kamran Safamanesh, who devoted considerable time and patience to the subject of this article and offered useful insights.
Bibliography Visual Sources - Pakzad, Mahmoud (1390 SH / 2011), Old Tehran, compiled by Nahid Tabatabaei, Tehran, Did Publications. - Tahami, Javad (1384 SH / 2005), Old Tehran (Landmarks), compiled by Dariush Tahami and Farshad Abrishami, Tehran, Abrishami-far Publications.
2- Momtahen al-Dowleh, who by the testimony of his memoirs had not been received kindly by engineering, sent all his children to military schools. Hadi Khan Shaqaqi, Houshang Khan Shaqaqi's father, was also a military man and strongly opposed his son's studying building engineering, but ultimately yielded to his child's insistence. It later became clear that Houshang Khan Shaqaqi had inherited his engineering talent and aptitude from his ancestor Momtahen al-Dowleh. Regarding the memoirs and life of Momtahen al-Dowleh, see: Mehdi Shaqaqi, Memoirs of Momtahen al-Dowleh, edited by Hosseinqoli Khan Shaqaqi and Iraj Afshar, Tehran, Amir Kabir, 1st ed., 1353 SH (1974). 3- Malek Iraj Ghaffari, "How Is a Skyscraper Created?", Architect, no. 1, Mordad and Shahrivar 1325 SH (August-September 1946), p. 24. 4- Waldorf Astoria. 5- Ibid., pp. 25-26. 6- See: Mohammad Ali Sheibani, "The Origin of the Idea of Providing Inexpensive Collective Housing in Iran," Architect, no. 1, Mordad and Shahrivar 1325 SH, p. 28. Abbas Azhdari, "The Problem of Housing Provision in Tehran and Provincial Cities," Architect, no. 1, Mordad and Shahrivar 1325 SH, pp. 15-16. Iraj Moshiri, "The Issue of Housing Is the Most Important Social Problem...," Architect, no. 4, Tir 1326 SH (July 1947), pp. 117-118. Manouchehr Khorsand, "A History of Affordable Housing Construction in Europe," Architect, no. 4, Tir 1326 SH, pp. 120-125. 7- See: Nureddin Kianuri, "The Reconstruction of War-Damaged Cities in the Soviet Union," Architect, no. 2, Aban and Azar 1325 SH (November-December 1946), pp. 58-63. Vartan Hovanessian, "Architectural Issues in Iran (Social Perspective and the Housing Crisis)," Architect, no. 4, Tir 1326 SH, pp. 139-140. 8- Iraj Moshiri, "Urban Development Horizontally and Vertically," Architect, no. 6, Tir 1327 SH (July 1948), p. 203. 9- Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, "The Designer of Tehran's First Tall Building and the Path Iranian Engineering Should Have Taken," in conversation with Soheila Beski, Abadi, year 5, no. 18, Autumn 1374 SH (1995), p. 14. 10- Iraj Karimi (director and narrator), Hidden Places of Tehran: The First Tower (Tehran Hidden Places: First High Building), documentary film, designed and produced by Alireza Raeisian. 11- Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, "The Designer of Tehran's First Tall Building and the Path Iranian Engineering Should Have Taken," in conversation with Soheila Beski, Abadi, year 5, no. 18, Autumn 1374 SH, p. 14.
12- Iraj Karimi (director and narrator), Hidden Places of Tehran: The First Tower (Tehran Hidden Places: First High Building), documentary film, designed and produced by Alireza Raeisian. 13- Ibid. 14- Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, Rowshangar newspaper, 1333 SH (1954). 15- A. and W. Vesnin. 16- Unfortunately, the Ten-Story Building, like some other buildings in recent years, has not been spared from the urban mural movement, and the optical patterns painted on its facade for the purpose of beautification have compromised its architectural identity. 17- Hossein Sarabi, Makhzan al-Vaqaye', edited by Karim Esfahanian and Qodratollah Roshani, Tehran University Press, Tehran, 1344 SH (1965), p. 357. 18- An example of such descriptions can be found in Naser al-Din Shah's First Travelogue. In describing an elevator in one of London's hospitals, he writes: "From the floors below, they have an apparatus by which they place the patient on a bed and pull them from the room below up to the upper floor. It was quite a spectacle that the patient did not move." (See: Naser al-Din Shah, Diary of Naser al-Din Shah's First Journey to Europe, edited by Fatemeh Qazi-ha, Tehran, National Archives Organization of Iran, 1377 SH / 1998, p. 202.) 19- Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, Rowshangar newspaper, 4th of Tir 1333 SH (June 25, 1954). 20- Houshang Khan Shaqaqi, "The Designer of Tehran's First Tall Building and the Path Iranian Engineering Should Have Taken," in conversation with Soheila Beski, Abadi, year 5, no. 18, Autumn 1374 SH, p. 14.
Elevator of the Ten-Story Building, photographer Amir Samsam Bakhtiar, early 1370s SH (early 1990s). Distant view of the building from inside Refahi Alley, photograph by the author, 1397 SH (2018). Mokhber al-Dowleh Square, photographer Javad Tahami, 1342 SH (1963).