This neo-classical hotel in the city of Isfahan was built in 1928 on the site of an old caravanserai by Tony Hovanessian, an Armenian entrepreneur who also set up the first photography atelier, the first lemonade factory and the first bicycle shop in Isfahan. It started its life under the name Hotel Amérique. Later, in a more nationalistic era, the name was changed to Ferdowsi Hotel, after Iran’s national poet. And then it was renamed yet again, becoming Hotel Jahan (“Universe”).
For some time in the 1980s, after the Islamic Revolution, the hotel’s 44 rooms served as a dormitory for the male students of Isfahan’s Arts College. Afterward, it was abandoned and neglected and it is currently in a state of disrepair and badly crumbling. The head of Isfahan’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has promised to try to save and restore the hotel but, as of now, nothing has been done.
Photographs by Rasoul Shojaei, Islamic Republic News Agency
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